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A  UTHOR: 


EMERY,  ANNIE  CROSBY 


TITLE: 


THE  HISTORICAL 
PRESENT  IN  EARLY.. 

PLACE: 

ELLSWORTH,  MAINE 


DATE: 


1897 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

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877.58 

Em3 


Emery,  Annie  Crosby,  1071- 

Tlie  historical  present  in  early  Latini  a  dio- 
sortation  prosented..,  hy   Annie  Crosby  Enory. 
Ellsworth,  Uaine,  Hancock  County  publishing  co«, 
1897#  i 

120  p.  23^  cn^  ' 

Thesis  (Ph,D),  Bryn  liawr. 


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THE  HISTORICAL  PRESENT 


IN 


EARLY    LATIN 


A  DISSERTATION 

PRESENTED  TO  THE  FACULTY  OF  BRYN  MAWR  COLLEGE 
FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


\ 


BY 


ANNIE   CROSBY   EMERY 


ELLSWORTH,      MAINE 
HANCOCK   COUNTY   PUBLISHING   COMPANY,    PRINTERS 

1897 


,     9         »» 


>     ' 


THE  HISTORICAL  PRESENT 


IN 


EARLY    LATIN 


A  DISSERTATION 

PRESENTED  TO  THE  FACULTY  OF  BRYN  MAWR  COLLEGE 
FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


BY 


ANNIE  CROSBY  EMERY 


ELLSWORTH,     MAINE 
HANCOCK   COUNTY   PUBLISHING   COMPANY,    PRINTERS 

1897 


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CHAPTER  I, 

CURRENT   THEORIES    OF   THE    HISTORICAL   PRESENT. 

The  opinions  hitherto  advanced  in  regard  to  the  His- 
toncal  Present  maybe  resolved  into  two  main  theories- 
one,  that  the  Historical  Present  gives  a  lively  represental 
t.on  o    the  past  by  bringing  past  events  before  the  mind 
as  ,f  they  were  taking  place  in  the  present;    the  other, 
hat  It  represents  as  continued  or  incomplete  certain  ac- 
tions which  are  assigned  by  the  context  to  a  past  sphere  of 
time      The  power  of  the  Historical  Present  to  enliven  the 
narrative,  which  by  the  adherents  of  the  first  theory  is  re- 
garded as  its  essential  characteristic,  is  not  denied  by  the 
adherents  of  the  second,  but  is  conceived  to  follow  as  a 

Ze    ^  r  /''  '""''"'"  ""'  P^^'-^y^"^   '^'^--^  in  the 
process  of  development. 

The  former  of  these  theories  is  that  stated  in  most  of 
he  grammars,  and  defended  in  one  form  or  another  by 
he  larger  number  of  modern  scholars.     Thus,  the  His- 
torical Present  is  defined  by  Kiibner-  as  follows :  "In  der 
Jirzahlung  vergangener  Ereignisse  wird  das  Prasens  . 
oft  gebraucht    .  .     .     indem  in  der  Lebhaftigkeit  de^ 

Darstellung  die  V  ergangenheit  als  Gegenwart  angeschaut 
wird.  Similar  definitions,  are  given  by  Holtze,^  Reisig,3 
Schneider,  4   Draeger,  s    Schmalz.<>   and   others.      These 

•  Aus/nAr/Me  Grammatik  der  lateinuchen  Sprache,  1878,  II,  8,1    2 
.862,  '^;'';"^/'-''"'-''"'  -->-'«  ^'i»"-u„.  us,ue  ad  Terentill  Uipsig, 

Schmalz  undLandgraf,  Berlin,  1881-90,  III,  §288,  i 

'  Dj  temporum  apud prisco,  ^criptcrcs  Latinos  mu,  Glatz,  .888,  p.  7 

I.p.^S       "-"""''"■''""■'"■"''"  '*''"'"'  '''  ^«^-  Leipsig.   1878.8:, 

'  Lateinuche   Syntax,  §22,  in  Iw.  Mailer's  Handbuch  der  klassuAen  AlUr 
tummtssmuhafl,  He  Aufl.,  1890,  II.  "^""'*^»  Alter- 


■y  f^^  .-j 


-:i 


1 1 

C        (     t 

C.I 


vi 


« 

defid'itions  imply,  and  sometimes  even  state,'  that 
the  Historical  Present  takes  the  place  of  the  Aorist  or 
Historical  Perfect  in  narration,  and  assume  that  it  is  used 
to  vividly  represent  the  past  because  it  denotes  present 
time,  that  is,  time  contemporaneous  with  the  speaker,  and 
brings  the  events  of  the  past  into  that  present. 

Brugmann,^  on  the  other  hand,  maintains  that  the  func- 
tion of  the  Historical  Present  to  represent  the  past  depends 
upon  the  timeless  character  of  the  present  tense,  which  en- 
ables it  to  be  used  of  events  that  are  past  and  future  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  speaker,  as  well  as  contemporane- 
ous with  him.  Thus  the  speaker  does  not  bring  past  events 
into  the  time  in  which  he  is  speaking,  but  rather  transfers 
himself  back  into  the  time  in  which  the  events  took  place. 
''  Das  sogenannte  praesens  historicum  beruht  nicht  darauf 
dass  der  Sprechende  bei  besonders  lebhafter  Erzahlung 
das  vergangene  Ereigniss  in  die  Zeit  in  der  er  spricht 
riickt,  sondern  eher  umgekehrt ;  er  tritt  aus  den  Rahmen 
der  Zeit  ganz  heraus,  drangt  uber  dem  Interesse  an  dem 
Ereignisse  selbst  die  Vorstellung  des  zwischen  dem  Vor- 
gang  und  der  Erzahlung  des  Vorganges  bestehenden 
Zeitverhaltnisses  zuruck,  und  versetzt  sich  in  Gedanken  in 
die  Zeit  als  das  Ereigniss  sich  eben  abspielte,  sodass  er 
dasselbe  wie  in  einem  Drama  oder  wie  auf  einem  Bilde 
vor  sich  sieht.  Das  praesens  historicum  beruht  also  auf 
dem  zeitlich  schrankenlosen  Gebrauch  dieses  Tempus." 

With    this    view    Hultsch3    agrees,    although   he    adds 
that   ultimately   there   is   no  great  difference  between  it 

»SoHoltze:  "pro  perfecto  usurpatur."  Reisig:  "statt  eines  Aoristus 
praeteriti  kann  ein  Prasens  ersetzt  werden  im  erzahlenden  Tone." 

^  Berichte  der  k.  sachischen  Geselhchaft  der  Wissenschaften  zu  Leipsig, 
phiL'hist.  CL,  XXXV  (1883),  p.  169. 

3  Die  erzahlenden  Zeitformen  bei  Polybios,  Ahhandlungen  der  k.  sachischen 
Geselhchaft  der  Wissenschaften,  phil.-hist.  Cl.y  XIV  (1894),  i,  p-  43-  The  first 
articles  are  found  ibid.,  XIII  (1893),  p.  i  ff,  p.  347  «• 


and  the  view  that  by  the  Historical  Present  the  speaker 
brings  the  past  into  the  present.^ 

The  theory  that  the  Historical  Present  does  not  repre- 
sent  the  past  as  present,  but  denotes  the  continued  and  in- 
complete  state  of  certain  actions  which  are  shown  by  the 
context  to  belong  to  the  past,  depends,  like  that  of  Brug- 
mann,  upon  the  timeless  character  of  the  present  tense 
This    theory   finds    its  strongest  supporter  in  Hoffmann 
and   IS    expressed    as  follows  in  his  Zeit/olge  nach  dem 
J^raesens  historicum  im  Lutein,  Wien,  1884,  P-  H : 

"Wenn    in   den    Grammatiken    dem    Praesens    hist 
die   Wirkung    beigelegt   wird,    dass  es  eine  vergangene 
Handlung  als  gegenwartig  darstelle,  so  kann  ich  dieser 
durchaus  irrigen  Ansicht  gegentiber  nur  wiederholen  was 
ichbereits  .   .   .  betont  habe,^  dass  die  grammatischen  Zeit- 
formen iiberhaupt  nichts  mit  der  natiirlichen  Zeit  zu  thun 
haben,  dass  sie  nur  Phasen  der  Handlung,  des  Seins  be- 
zeichnen,  und  dass  daher  auch  das  Praesens  an  sich  durch- 
aus nicht  von  der  unmittelbaren  Gegenwart  des  Sprechen- 
den  zu  verstehen  ist,  sondern  nur  von  der  Gegenwart  der 
Handlung,  d.   h.  von  der  Phase  ihres    Vollzuges,    ihres 
Eintretens  und  Stattfindens.     In  welcher  natiirlichen  oder 
ausseren  Zeit  aber  ein  solches  praesentisches,  als  eintretend 
Oder   statthndend  besagtes  Sein  liege,  ob  es  schlechthin 
und  fiir    alle   Zeit   bestehe,    ob    strict   nur   zur   Zeit  des 
Sprechenden,   ob  zur  Zeit   anderer   bereits    vergangener 
Handlungen,  dass  lasst  sich  nicht  aus  dem  Tempus  selbst 
sondern  nur  aus  dem  Zusammenhange  entnehmen.     Das 
Besondere   in  dem  Gebrauche  des  historischen  Praesens 

sion  of  Suhrh-"''"";  ^"  r^-Perfectandthe  Aorist  in  Greek,  which  is  a  discus- 
sion of  Hultsch  s  work,  American  Journal  of  Philology,  XVI  (1895),   p.    183, 

J  Hoffmann  first  advanced  his  theory  in  Die  Construction  der  lateinischen 
Zettpartikeln,  Wien,  i860,  2te  Aujl,,  1873,  p.  183.  a^eimsCien 


liegt  nur  darin,  dass  die  betreffende  Handlung  nicht  nach 
Massgabe  ihrer  Lage  zur  Gegenwart  des  Sprechenden  als 
abgeschlossen  ausgepragt,  sondern  als  geschehend  hinge- 
stellt  wird.  Durch  diese  Darstellungsweise  wird  die 
Monotonie  der  Factenaufzahlung  unterbrocben ;  die 
Erzahlung  gewinnt  eine  gewisse  Anschaulichkeit,  Unmit- 
telbarkeit  und  Lebendigkeit,  aber  sie  gestaltet  sich  bei 
langerer  Anfeinanderfolge  soldier  Praesentia  unruhig  und 
hastig,  eben  weil  die  Ereignisse  nur  als  eintretend  genannt 
werden,  obne  dass  durch  das  Tempus  auch  ihr  Abschluss 

angezeigt  ware".^ 

Kohlmann  ^  also  attributes  this  imperfect  function  to 
the  Historical  Present,  and  says  that  there  is  the  same 
difference  between  the  Historical  Present  and  the  Aorist 
that  there  is  between  the  Imperfect  and  the  Aorist. 

Lattmann,3  on  the  contrary,  maintains  that  the  Histor- 
ical Present,  while  it  is  to  be  referred  to  the  achrcnistic 

>  Hoffmann's  theory  that  the  Historical  Present  is  a  purely  preterite  tense, 
used  to  denote  the  continuance  of  an  action  in  the  past,  is  largely  based   upon  a 
study  of  the  sequence  of  tenses  after  it.     This  leads  him  to  make  an   unfortunate 
distinction  between  the  "Historical  Present",  which  must  take  the  sequence  of  a 
past  tense,  except  in  such  subordinate  clauses  as  are  so  related  to  the  rest  of  the 
sentence  that  they  naturally  tend  toward  the  present  sequence,  and  what  he  calls 
the  ''Real  Present"  (wirkliches  Praesens),  which,  he  says,  admits  of  present  se- 
quence even  when  the  subordinate  clauses  in  their  relation  to  the  sentence  natur- 
ally tend  toward  the  past  sequence   (see    below,    Chapter    V.)-      This    "Real 
Present"  he  attributes  to  the  poets— "Das  ist  ja  gerade  die  Freiheit   welche   der 
Dichter  vor  dem  Historiker  voraus  hat,  dass  er  sich  in  die  Gegenwart  der  von  ihm 
erzahlten   Begebenheiten  versetzen   und  nicht  bios  diese  in  praesentischer  Form 
referieren,  sondern  nach   Massgabe  gleichsam   seiner   eigenen  Anschauung  und 
ethischen   Betheiligung   an   den   Vorgangen     potential-hypothetische     Urtheile, 
deliberativ-dubitative   Fragen,    seltener   eine  subjective   Begrundung  oder  Ein- 
schrankung,  oder  eine  potentiale  Bestimmung  im   Conjunctiv   des   Praesens   ein- 
mischen  darf,  wo  der  Prosaiker  seinen  zeitlich  verschiedenen  Standtpunkt   durch 
Anwendung  des  Conjunctivus  Imperfecti  wahren  muss",  (pp.   16-18.) 

*  De  verbi  Graeci  temporibus^  Halle,  1873,  pp.  6-7. 

3  Selbstandiger   und  hezogener    Gebrauch   der    Tempora   im  Lateinischen, 
Gottingen,  1890,  pp.  16-17. 


present,  yet  contains  no  idea  of  continuance  or  incompletion 
-  Denn  dam.t  dass  .ch  eine  Handlung  als  dauernd  hinstelle, 
beze,chne  .ch  sie  eben-falls  nicht  ein  bestimn^ter  Bestandl 
the.l  der  Verbalform  auf  eide  andere  Zeit  hinweist-als 
gegenwarfg.     Dauernd    heisst   in   diesem   Falle    immer 
zur  Ze.t  des  Sprechenden  dauernd '.     Man  erkennt  das 
schon  daraus,  dass,  wenn  eine  dauernde  Handlung  der 
Vergangenheu  bezeichnet  werden  soil,  durchaus  eine  aus- 
druckhche    Form    der    Vergangenheit    (  Imperfectum  ) 
gebraucht  werden  muss,  wahrend  wenn  es  nicht  darauf 
ankommt  d>e  Handlung  der  Vergangenheit  als  dauernd  zu 
beze,chnen    viele  Historiker  das  Prasens  in  solchem  Um- 
frange   gebrauchen,  dass  das  Perfectum  historicum  fast 
uberflassig  erscheint".' 

Although  Lattmann  thus  opposes  Hoffmann's  view 

Preset  wt.'^r   ""':    '''■"^"^""   ^'^^^   ^'^^    "-^--a 
Present,  whde  it  ,s  timeless,  yet  serves  to  vividly  represent 

:tor:w     ''^  Tf '^""'°"  '^'  ^^""^^^  -3',    'nsati  . 
factory  because  of  the  very  frequent  use  of  the  tense  and 

us  jargely  arbitrary  variation  with  the  Historical  Perfect 
-  Dagegen  ist  seine  Erklarung  leicht,  sobald  man  das 
Prasens  als  achronistische  Verbalform  scharf  sondert  von 
dem  Prasens  als  Tempus  der  Gegenwart "  " 

fromTh^ '""'''"  'u'"'^'  '"'^••^ '■^"'^te  than  Lattmann's 
from  the  two  mam  theories  of  the  Historical  Present  has 
been  formulated  by  Rhodemeyer.a     He  maintains  that  the 

^ichT  k  r"'  """'"  ^'^  '"''  ^'"'^  ^f  -  action 
which  took  place  m  a  sphere  of  time  determined  as  past 
by  the  context.  ^ 

The  above  theories  represent  with  sufficient  accuracy 
the  current   views  in   regard  to  the  Historical  Present. 

'  Op,  cit.y  p.  16. 
*  Op.  cit.y  p.  17. 

'  Das  Prasens  Historicum  bei  Herodot  und  Thukydides,  Basel,  1889. 


8 

None  of  them  has  been  based  upon  a  complete  study  of 
the  tense  in  early  Latin.     This  early  Latin  means  chiefly 
Plautus   and  Terence,  and  Varro  (de  re  rustica),  since 
the  remains  of  the  other  dramatists,  of  Ennius,  Lucilius, 
and  the  historians  are  too  fragmentary  to  serve  as  a  basis 
for  any  very  certain  conclusions.     Plautus  and  Terence, 
especially,  represent,  so  far  as  it  can  be  represented  by 
literature,  the  common  speech  of  the  people,  unaffected 
by  conscious  attempts  at  artistic  style.     They  reproduce 
familiar  conversations  of  every-day  life.     A  study  of  the 
Historical  Present  in  these  authors  should,  therefore,  lead 
to  the  discovery  of  its  nature  and  use  in  the  spoken  lan- 
guage.      Its   function   in   this    spoken  language  was  its 
original  function,  and  the  foundation  of  any  use  that  it 
may  have  developed  in  literature. 

To  make  the  necessary  study  of  the  Historical  Pres- 
ent in  early  Latin  is  the  purpose  of  this  dissertation. 
Any  theory  that  may  result  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the 
tense  will  be  set  forth  without  direct  comparison  with  the 
theories  hitherto  advanced. 


CHAPTER   n. 

THE    HISTORICAL    PRESENT    IN    EARLY    LATIN. 

In  Plautus  and  Terence,  and  also  in  other  ante-rlassi- 
cal  authors  (Livius  Andronicus,  Naevius,  Ennius,  Lucil- 
uis,    the    fragmentary    comic    and  tragic  poets,  the  fra^- 
mentary  historians,  and  Varro),  the  Historical  Present    is 
usedm  the  narration  of  past  events,  and  varies  in  the  same 
narration    with    the  Historical  Perfect,  the  Imperfect    the 
Plupertect  and  the  Historical  Infinitive.     The  nature  of  its 
function  as  distinguished  from  the  functions  of  these  other 
tenses  is  the  problem  to  be  solved.     The  first  step  must  be 
an  mvestigation  of  the  kinds  of  verbs  which  are  found    in 
the  Historical  Present.     The  following  is  a  list  of    them 
compared  with  the  verbs  found  in  other  tenses  when  these 
tenses  vary  with  the  Historical  Present  in  the  same  narra- 
tion :  ^ 

VERBS  OF  SAYING. 

(Including  verbs  of  calling,  commanding,  promising,  threatening,  denying,  etc 

and  their  opposites.)  ^    s>  ^^^m 

Historical 

Imperfect. 


Historical 

Present. 


inquit   129 
(79  in  Varro, 
de  r.  r.) 

aio  15 

loquor   I 
colloquor  i 


Perfect. 


ecfatus  I 


elocutus  I 


aiebam  c 


Pluperfect. 


Historical 
Infinitive. 


colloqui  I 


-In  the  cbove  list  the  appended  numeral  gives  the  number  of  occurrences 
1  he  first  person,  as  a  rule,  is  cited,  for  the  sake  of  convenience. 

^oJZ^^^:^  '"''-'""'  ''-^'-^  "-'^  <^'--«-  are  made 

We:  Djllt'st"'  ''''-''''  ^"""'"''  "'">  ^^°'    '«95-96). 
Livius  Andronicus:  Baehrens,  Fragmenta  Poetarum  Romamrum    iSSfi 
Ennms  (and  Naevius,  BMum  Puniaw.):  L.  Mueller,  S  ' 

Lucihus:   Lachmann,  1876.  '       ^" 


lO 


II 


VERBS  OF   SAYING. 
(Including  verbs  of  calling,  commanding,  promising,  etc.) 

[continued.] 


Historical 

Present. 

Historical 

Perfect. 

Imperfect. 

dico  1 8 
edico  2 

dixi  II 

dicebam  2 

indico   i 

praedico  i 
fateor  i 

narro  4 

percontor  i 

interrogo  3 
rogo   13 

interrogavi  i 

rogito  2 
respondeo  3 
nomino  i 
clamo  I 

respondi  4 

rogitabam  2 

conclamo  2 

exclamo  7 
inclamo  i 

exclamavi  i 

clamito  i 
boo  I 

voco  4 

vocavi  2 
advocavi  i 

invoco  4 

provoco  I 

revoco   i 

invito  I 

arcesso  i 
offirmo  I 

posco  3 
postulo  3 
oro  8 

exoro  2 

obsecro  3 

precor  i 

impero  i 
iubeo  7 
suadeo  i 

iussi  6 

persuadeo  i 

adhortor  i 

hortabar  i 

Pluperfect. 
dixeram  i 


Historical 

Infinitive. 

dicere  i 
praedicere  i 


clamitare  i 


VERBS  OF  SAYING. 
(Including  verbs  of  calling,  commanding,  promising,  etc.) 

[continued.] 


Historical 

Present. 

Historical 
Perfect. 

dehortatus  i 

Imperfect. 

adiuro  i 

pollicitus  I 

monebam  i 
adiurabam  i 

increpo  i 
nego  6 

increpui  i 

abnuo  i 

taceo  I 

tacui  I 

sileo  I 

reticui  i 

obstipui  I 
obmutui  I 

Pluperfect. 


Historical 

Infinitive. 


obiurigare  i 

negare  2 
negitare  i 
abnuere  i 


VERBS  OF  PERCEPTION. 
(Including  verbs  of  hearing,  seeing,  knowing,  etc.,  and  their  opposites.) 
audivi  4 

exaudiebam  i 


video  12 

videor  2 
viso  I 

aspicio  4 
circumspicio  i 
conspicio  3 

respicio  i 

conspicor  3 
specto  I 
circumspecto  i 

respecto  i 


vidi  4 
providi  i 
visus  7 


aspexi  2 

conspexi  i 
despexi  i 

suspexi  I 
conspicatus  2 


inspectavi  i 


videbar  i 


videri  i 


circumvisere    i 


hortari  i 


spectabam  i 


contemplatus  i 

observavi  i         observabam  i 


noram  i 


Historical 

Present. 


cogito  I 


amo  I 


veneror  i 


gaudeo  I 

conqueror  i 
rideo  2 
fleo  I 


12 

VERBS  OF   PERCEPTION. 

(Including  verbs  of  hearing,  seeing,  etc.) 
[CONTINUED.] 


volo  I 
cupio   I 
quaero  2 


Historical 

Perfect. 

scivi  I 

adgnovi  i 
cognovi  3 
ignovi  I 
sensi  5 


Imperfect. 


cogitabam    i 
putabam  i 
rebar  i 


Pluperfect. 
intellexeram  i 


oblitus  fueram. 


Historical 

Infinitive. 


putare  I 


VERBS  OF   EMOTION  AND   WILL. 
(Including  verbs  of  inclination,  effort,  etc.) 


dilexi  I 

veritus  i 
metui  2 
extimui  i 

perdolui  i 


amabam  3 


miseritus  i 


peracui  i 
volui  3 
nolui  3 


quaesivi  i 


metuebam  2 
gaudebam  4 


[bam  I 
conlacruma- 


cupiebam  i 
quaerebam  2 


Historical 

Present. 

vestigo    I 


laboro  i 
pugno  I 

exspecto  i 

insto  I 
destino  i 


VERBS  OF   EMOTION  AND   WILL. 

(Including  verbs  of  inclination,  effort,  etc.) 
[CONTINUED.] 
Historical 


Perfect. 
studui  I 

passus  I 
pugnavi  i 


Ii7iperfect. 
studebam  i 

audebam  i 


Pluperfect. 


institi  I 


certabam  i 
exspectabam  i 
praestolabar  i 


INTRANSITIVE   VERBS  OF   MOTION. 


Historical 

Infinitive^ 


pati  I 


instare  2 


H 

eo  4 

ivi  I 

ibam  3 

H 

abeo  8 

abii  7 

abibam  i 

abieram  i 

H 

adeo  2 

adii  2 

H 

circumeo  i 

H 

coeo   I 

1 

exeo  4 

obii  I 

H 

praetereo  i 

praeterii  i 

H 

prodeo  i 

1 

redeo  3 

redii  i 
transii  i 

redibam  i 

^1 

venio  11 

veni  6 

H 

advenio  4 

adveni  i 

H 

convenio  3 

conveni   i 

convenibam  i 

convenieram   1 

^^1 

dcvenio   i 

lugere  2                 ^H 

• 

^^^^^1 

eveni  i 

mirarier  I               ^H 

intervenio   2 

irasci                        ^H 

pervenio  i 

proficiscor  2 
cedo  I 

perveni  i 
profectus  i 

nolle                        ^H 

accedo  2 

abscessi  i 
accessi  8 

abscesseram  1 

invidere  2              ^H 

concessi  i 

quaerere  i              ^H 

discedo  i 

INTRANSITIVE   VERBS  OF   MOTION. 
[continued.] 

Pluperfect. 


Historical 

Historical 

Present. 

Perfect. 

Imperfect. 

incedo  i 

incessi  i 

procedo  2 

processi  2 

recede  i 

recessi  3 
successi  I 

adgredior  i 

egredior  i 

adcurro  5 

concurro  i 

occucurri  i 

occurrebam  i 

praecucurri  i 

percurro  i 

pergo  4 

perrexi  i 

commeo  I 

commigravi  2 

praevortor  i 

revortor  2 

ingruo  I 

proruo  I 

penetro  i 

insilui  i 
resilui  i 

exilio    I 

.sul)silio   I 

aufugio  1 

aberravi   i 
evasi  i 

decumbo  1 

cado  3 

accido  I 

concido  2 

decido   1 

incido  i 

elapsus  1 
declinavi  i 

congenuclo  i 

adsido  i 

surgo   I 

Historical 

Historical 

Historical 

Infinitive, 

Present. 

exsurgo   I 
conscendo  2 
inscendo  i 

Perfect. 

H 

volavi  I 

1 

convolo  I 

m 

devolo  I 
involo  I 

15 

INTRANSITIVE  VERBS  OF  MOTION. 
[continued.] 


fugere  i 


adcuml>ere   i 


Imperfect. 


Plnperfect, 


Historical 

Infinitive. 


TRANSITIVE   VERBS   OF   MOTION 
which  may  denote  either  momentary  or  progressive  actions.' 
admovi  i 


ago  6 


duco  4 
abduco  I 
con duco  I 
deduco  3 
educo  I 

produco  2 
seduco  3 
subduco  2 
aveho  3 
adveho  2 
deveho  2 
niitto  3 


semovi   i 
egi   I 

circumegi  i 
coegi   I 
duxi  3 
abduxi  i 


eduxi   I 
perduxi  i 
produxi   I 

subduxi  I 
avexi    i 
advexi  2 

misi   I 
admisi  i 


abducebam  i 


agebam  2 


duxeram  i 


ducere  i 


perducere  i 


advexeram   i 


■  Here  are  included,  in  addition  to  the  verbs  that  obviously  belong  to  the 
a  gory.  3o„,e  verbs  which  in  their  derived  meanings  have  lost  the  idea  of  motion 
hat  they  or,g,nally  contamed;  and  other  verbs  which  contain  the  idea  of  motion 

con^      .    f  "  "'"^   "gainst   the   object.      When   this  action  may  be 

rvbl«l       f^P"'";"'y'"°"'-n'="yand  instantaneous,  the  verbs  expressing  i, 


i6 

TRANSITIVE  VERBS  OF   MOTION 
which  may  denote  either  momentary  or  progressive  actions. 

[continued.] 


Historical 

Present. 

omitto  I 

fero   I 
aufero  2 

differo  i 
ecfero  2 

refero  i 

tollo  I 
extollo  I 
porto  I 
comporto  i 
inferino   i 

addo  I 
edo  I 
indo  I 
abscondo  3 


detraho  3 

arripio  2 

surripio  i 
surpuo  I 

extrudo    i 

ecfodio  I 

segrego  i 
capio   5 
suscipio  I 

prendo  5 


Historical 

Perfect, 

remisi  i 
(te)tuli  2 

detuli  3 


pertuli   I 

transtuli  i 
sustuli  I 


abdidi  i 
edidi   i 


abtraxi  i 
detraxi  i 

arripui   i 
corripui   2 


exemi   i 


diremi  i 


cepi  I 
suscepi  I 

prendi  i 


Imperfect. 


Plupeyfect. 


rapiebam  i 


captabam  i 


Historical 

Infinitive. 


ferre   i 


perferre  i 


trahere  i 


rapere  i 


expromere  i 


suscipere  i 


Historical 

Present. 


17 

TRANSITIVE   VERBS  OF   MOTION 
which  may  denote  either  momentary  or  progressive  actions. 

[continued.] 

Historical 


comprehendo  I 


lego  I 

pono  2 
depono  i 
impono  2 
oppono  I 

conloco  3 
instruo  i 

statuo  I 
condo  I 
adHgo  I 
adpHco  I 
adnumero  i 
copulo  I 
resupino  i 
insinuo  i 

saepio  i 

consterno  i 
complector  i 
adorno   i 


Historical 

Perfect. 


reprehendi  2 
conrasi  i 

delegi  i 
posivi  I 
deposivi  i 
imposivi   i 
opposivi  I 
locavi  I 

instruxi  i 
institui  i 


Imperfect. 


solvo  2 


attigi  I 
I  exsolvi  I 


Pluperfect. 


Infinitive, 


tendere  i 
tegere  i 


Historical 

Present. 

caedo  i 
excido  I 
praecido  i 


oppnmo  I 
compungo    i 

convorto  i 
pervorto  i 

enico  i 

ferio  2 
foedo  I 
frango  3 
iacio  I 

conicio  i 


obtrunco  i 
offendo  i 

optundo  I 
percello   i 
percutio  2 
protero  i 
pulto  I 
quatio  i 

saucio  I 

subline  r 


18 


TRANSITIVE  VERBS  OF    MOTION 
which  denote  primarily  momentary  actions. 
Historical 

Imperfect.  Pluperfect. 


Perfect. 


compuli  I 
reppuli  I 
compressi  2 

repressi  i 

conturbavi  i 


exammavi  i 


adieci  i 
conieci  i 
deieci  i 
eieci  2 
proieci  i 
reicei  i 
iactavi   i 

inquinavi  i 
necavi  i 
obtruncavi  i 

oneravi  i 


percussi  2 


sacrificavi  i 


CTUciabam  i 


immolabam  i 


torporavi  i 


sacrificabam  i 
sollicitabam   i 


19 


■ 

<c 

VERBS  OF   REST 

Historical             ^^k 

Historical 

Presejtt. 

nianeo  2 
sto  I 

Historical 

Perfect. 

mansi  i 
requievi   i 

astiti  2 

Imperfect. 

Pluperfect. 

1 

sedeo  I 

restiti  i 

restabam  i 

I 

iaceo  i 

Historical 

Infinitive. 


VERBS  OF  CONSTRUCTION. 


bcio  21 
adficio  I 

feci  17 

faciebam  i 

conficio  I 

effeci  I 

facessco  i 

patefeci  i 
(fores) 
praefeci   i 

aedifico  i 

creo  I 

fingo  I 
confingo  I 
configo  I 

paro  1               1 

paravi  i 

' 

facere  i 


VEI^BS    OF    GIVING,    RECEIVING,    YIELDING,    HINDERING,  etc. 


do  14 
reddo  i 
dedo  2 


devoveo  i 
commendo  i 

J^ccipio  2 
recipio  2 
ostendo  2 
placeo  2 
Jubet  I 


dedi  10 
reddidi  2 

donavi  i 
despondi  3 


tradidi  i 
accepi  2 

placui  2 


dabam  5 


dare  i 
dedere  i 


I 


20 


21 


VERBS    OF    GIVING,    RECEIVING,    YIELDING,    HINDERINC;,  etc. 

[continued.] 


llistoriial 
Iiijinitii 


Historical 

Present. 

Historical 

Perfect. 

Imperfect. 

Pluperfect. 

decet  I 

conlubitum   i 

pareo  i 

sequor  2 
consequor  3 

parsi  I 
sivi  I 

serviebam  i 

adnuo  i 
obdo  3 

impedivi  i        | 

sequi   I 

obsequi   i 
persequi  t 


consono  i 
tinno  I 
cano  I 

contonat  i 
tumultuor  i 
perstrepo  i 
nterpello  i 
saluto  2 
gratulor  2 
plaudo  I 


MISCELLANEOUS  VERBS.* 
sonabam  i 


tonuit  I 


desero  i 


contempsi  i 
sprevi  i 
neglexi  i 


*  It  would  be  possible  to  subdivide  these  miscellaneous  verbs  into  a  large 
number  of  smaller  classes,  such  as  verbs  of  sound,  of  attainment,  of  buying  and 
selling,  of  power,  of  beginning,  of  existence,  etc.,  etc.  Little,  however, 
would  be  gained  by  such  a  division  for  the  purposes  of  this  dissertation.  It 
would  also  be  possible  to  embrace  in  preceding  classes  some  of  the  verbs  that 
are  included  here. 


MISCELLANEOUS 

VERBS. 

[continued.] 

Historical 

Present, 

relinquo  3 
desino  i 

Historical 

Perfect. 

perdidi  i 
reliqui  2 
destiti  I 

credidi  i 
fefelli  I 

demonstravi  i 

Imperfect. 
fallebar  i 

Pluperfect. 
insaniebam  i 

Historical 
Infinitive 

pario  2 
adopto  2 
educo  I 

peperi  3 
educavi  i 

commuto  i 

cuarabam  i 

curaram  i 

immuto  i 
celo  I 

simulo  I 
commoro  i 

dissimulabam  i 

simulare  l 

supero  I 
vinco   I 

vici  I 
hausi  I 

nactus  I 

superabam  i 
stabilibam   i 

repperio  i 
occupo  I 
obtineo  i 

comperiebam  i 

habeo  i 

habui  2 

habebam   1 

participo  i 
vendo  3 
emo  2 

vendidi  3 
emi  3 

tenebam   i 

mercor  i 
oppleo  I 

mercatus  i 

mico  I 

inscripsi  i 
consignavi  i 
pactus  I 

1 

complebam  i 

f/istorical 

Present. 

vnleo  I 
potis  sum   I 


vaco 

t'bibo    I 

sulto  I 
rondormisco  I 


22 

MISCELLANEOUS   VERBS. 

[continued.] 

Historical 

Imperfect 


Perfect. 


potiii  2 
quivi  1 


confulgebam  2 

poteram  2 
quibam   I 
eminebam  i 

solebam  i 


Pluperfect. 


Historical 
Infinitive, 


infit  5 
incipio   I 
occipio   I 


morior  2 
emorior    i 

consto   I 


sum  I 

ndsum   i 
insum   I 


bibi   I 

condormivi   i 
lavi   I 


coepi  22 


occepi  14 
natus  2 
adolevi  i 
mortuus  2 
emortuus  i 
perii  3 
constiti  4 
contigi  I 

fui  23 
adfui   I 


nebam  I 
texebam  i 


eram  20 
aderam  2 
inerat  i 


emoriri  I 


pendere  i 


An  exam.nauon  of  the  above  list  shows  that  it  is 
ch.efly  verbs  of  incomplete  and  continued  action  as  op- 
loosed  to  verbs  of  completed  and  momentary  action  which 
tend  toward  the  Historical  Present.  These  verbs  of  in- 
complete  and  continued  action  are  verbs  that  imply 
vision  on  the  part  of  the  speaker.  They  indicate  that  he 
.s  reviewing  the  events  denoted  by  them  and    considering 


23 

them  in  their  process  of  completion  instead  of  simplv 
recognizing  the  fact  that  they  once  took  place  and  were 
completed  in  the  past.  In  other  words,  these  verbs  are 
imperfect,  not  aoristic,  in  character.  Thev  are  used,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  stating  the  occurrence  of  events,  but  for 
the  purpose  of  describing  these  events  and  portraying  them 
to  the  mind  in  their  process  of  development.  They  are 
employed  in  the  description  of  scenes  that  the  mind  re- 
views. 

Now  if  it  is  chiefly  these  verbs  which  lend  toward  the 
Historical  Present,  then  it  would  seem  clear  that  the  His- 
torical Present  is  imperfect  in  character,  and  is  used  as  a 
tense  of  vision,  to  describe,  not  merely  state,  the  events  of 
the  past.     This  at  once  distinguishes  it  from  the  Historical 
Perfect.     But  how  is  it  distinguished  from  the  Imperfect, 
since  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  two  different  tenses  have 
the  same  function?      The  distinction  between  the  Imper- 
fect and  the  Historical  Present  may  be  briefly  defined  as 
follows  :     by  the  Imperfect  the  speaker  views  the  events  as 
past  from   the   point   of  view   of   his  own  present,    and 
describes  them    as    going   on  in  the  past ;  bv  the  Histor- 
ical Present  he  views  them  as  if  they  were  going  on  before 
h.s  eyes  in  the  sphere  of  his  own  present,  whether  he  does 
this  by  bringing  the  events  out  of  the  past  into  his  actual 
present,  or  by  putting  himself  back  into   their  past.      In 
either  case  he  makes  the  present  of  the  events  his  present. 
This,  then,  is  the  function  of  the  Historical  Present— 
the  representation  of  past  events  as  if  thev  were  going  on 
in  the  present  before  the  eyes  of  the  spectator.       Such    a 
function  seems  to  spring  from  the  timeless  character  of  the 
present  tense.     This  tense  in  itself  has  not  the  limitations 
Of  any  particular  sphere  of  time,  but  denotes  actions  in   a 
state  of  continuance,  whether  in  the  past,  present   or   fu- 
ture.     If  the   speaker  throws  himself  backward  into  the 


24 

past  (or  draws  the  past  into  his  present),  and  views  actions 
that  in  fact  are  past  as  going  on  before  his  eyes,  he  uses 
the  Historical  Present  to  express  them.  In  the  same  way 
it  is  possible  to  explain  the  use  of  the  Present  for  the  Fu- 
ture ;  that  is,  if  the  speaker  projects  himself  forward  into 
the  future  and  views  events  that  in  fact  are  yet  to  come  as 
going  on  before  his  eyes  he  may  use  the  Present  to  ex- 
press them. 

If  the  essential  characteristic  of  the  Historical  Present 
is  the  representation  of  the  past,  so  that  scenes  and  events 
are  described  as  if  they  were  taking  place  before  the  eyes 
of  the  speaker,  it  follows  that  the  use  of  the  tense  need  not 
be  confined  to  verbs  that  express  continued  and  incom- 
plete activities,  but  may  be  extended  to  verbs   of   aoristic 
conceptions.     When  the  speaker  reviews  a  scene  he  may 
bring  before  his  mind  as  still  going  on  not  only    activities 
that   in   themselves  are  incomplete  and  continued,  such  as 
those  denoted  by  many  verbs  of  motion,  by  verbs  of  sound, 
vision,  emotion,  construction,  etc.,  but  also  activities   that 
in  themselves  are  completed,  such    as    those    denoted    by 
verbs  of  attainment,  verbs  of  momentary  action    (killing, 
striking,    etc.),  etc.       In  almost  all  scenes  that  a  speaker 
may  recall  will  be  found  intermingled  these  two  kinds  of 
activities,  the  one  of  which  would  naturally  be   expressed 
by  the  Imperfect,  the  other  by  the  Aorist.      When    these 
scenes  are  taken  out  of  the  limits  of  the  past  and  presented 
to  the  mind  as  if  they  were  going  on  before   the    eyes    of 
the  speaker,  both  kinds  of  activities  are  described  by   the 
Historical  Present  as  parts  of  a  course  of  events  that  is  in 
progress  in  the  sphere  of  time  that  the  speaker  is  regard- 
ing as  present.     Of  the  individual  actions  in  this  course  of 
events  some  may  be  of  momentary,  others  of   incomplete 
character.      All  may  be  described  by  the  Historical  Pres- 
ent as  taking  place  before  the  eyes.       Hence  the  decision 


25 

in  any  particular  case  whether  the  Historical  Present 
represents  an  Imperfect  or  an  Aorist  in  narration,  is  a 
subordinate  consideration. 

After   the    function    of   the    Historical    Present    as  a 
means  of  representing  the  past  as  present  has  been  estab- 
lished, another  problem  presents  itself.     Why  in  the  same 
narration,  in  the  description  of  the  same    scene,  which  is 
being  portrayed  as  if  it  were  taking  place  before  the  eyes 
of  the  speaker,  should  the  Historical  Present  be  interrupt- 
ed by  past  tenses,  notably  by  the  Historical   Perfect    and 
Imperfect?     It  is  commonly  claimed  that  such   variation, 
especially  that  of  the  Historical  Present  with  the  Historical 
Perfect,  is  arbitrary,  and  that  the  mind  passes  without  any 
especial  reason  from  one  tense  to  another,  from  the  narra- 
tive past  to  the  more  vivid  present.^    In  ante-classical  Latin 
it  is  doubtful  whether  this  sweeping  assertion  holds  good. 
An  investigation  of  the  narrative  passages  seems  to  show 
that  in  general  some  reason  exists  for  the  variation  in  nar- 
ration of  the  Historical  Present  with  other  tenses. 

The  Historical  Perfect,  which  is  found  in  variation 
with  the  Historical  Present  oftener  than  any  other  tense, 
frequently  has  its  ordinary  character  as  a  tense  of  simple 
narration  to  give  a  mere  statement  of  fact,  as  distinguished 
from   the    more    descriptive   character   of    the    Historical 
Present.  ^   This  use  of  the  Perfect  is  found  often  in  the 
mtroduction    or   conclusion    of    dramatic   scenes   that   are 
described  by  the  Historical  Present.       It  is  also  found  in 
the  narration  of  the  scenes   themselves  to  mark  explan- 
atory  or   parenthetical    facts.      Thus    the    tendency    of 
certain  verbs  toward  the  Perfect  instead  of  the  Historical 
Present  is  explained.     Stim,   for  example,   and   its    com- 

'  So  Holtze,  op.  cit.,  p.  64:  ''non  raro  in  eodem  orationis  tenore  variant 
inter  seetpermutanturperfectumetpraesenshistoricum."  Schneider,  op.  cit., 
P-7:  "praesens,  perfectum  et  infinitum  etiam  historicum  promiscue  se  invicem 
excipere."     Lattmann,  op.  et  loc.  cit.  (see  Chapter  I,  p.  7),  and  others. 


'mmfmrnnmmm 


26 

pounds  are  found  more  often  in  the  Perfect  because  they 
are  used  chiefly  of  introductory  or  explanatory  facts, 
which  are  to  be  merely  stated,  not  described.  Such  verbs, 
also,  as  occipio,  incifio,  volo,  etc.,  are  found  most  fre- 
quently in  the  Perfect  because  they  are  in  themselves 
merely  introductory  to  their  dependent  infinitives  upon 
which  the  real  emphasis  falls.  The  verb  and  the  infinitive 
together  form  one  expression  almost  equivalent  to  a  finite 
tense  (Imperfect)  of  the  verb  to  which  the  infinitive  be- 
longs. If,  however,  the  act  of  beginning,  wishing,  etc., 
is  to  be  emphasized  and  brought  into  line  with  the  other 
acts  making  up  the  scene,  then  these  verbs  are  thrown 
into  the  Historical  Present. 

Often,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Perfect  itself  is  a  more 
integral  part  of  the  scene.     In  these  cases  it  is  used  chiefly 
to  emphasize  the  completion  of  an  activitv,  or  its  instan- 
taneous  or  momentary  character,  thus  differing  from  the 
Historical  Present  which  of  necessity  represents  activities 
in   their   process    of    completion.     Thus    verbs     that    in 
their  nature  denote  an  instantaneous  action  are  more  likely 
to  be  found  in  the  Perfect  than  in  the  Historical  Present, 
while,  on    the    other   hand,  verbs   that  naturally  express 
continuance,    such    as    verbs    of     vision    and    emotion, 
although  usually  found  in  the  Historical  Present,  may  be 
put  into  the  Perfect  when  the  suddenness  of  the  activity  is 
to  be  emphasized. 

Negative  conceptions  also  tend  toward  the  Perfect, 
but,  like  other  specifically  aoristic  conceptions,  they  may 
be  expressed  by  the  Historical  Present  when  they  are  a 
closely  connected  part  of  the  scene. 

Deserving  of  special  mention  in  any  discussion  of  the 
variation  of  the  Historical  Present  with  the  Historical  Per- 
fect is  the  large  class  of  verbs  of  saying.  These 
verbs  are  found  chiefly  in  the  Historical  Present,  for  they 


27 

are  essentially  verbs  that  would  occur  in  the  description 
of  scenes.  A  large  number,  in  which  the  act  of  speaking, 
answering,  calling,  shouting,  praying,  etc.,  is  em- 
phasized and  made  an  integral  part  of  the  scene,  seem 
to  have  the  real  force  of  the  Historical  Present.  Such 
verbs,  however,  as  inquam,  aw,  and  even  the  present  forms 
of  dico,  seem  to  be  used  phraseologically,  to  indicate,  as 
it  were,  the  parts  of  the  speakers  in  the  dialogue,  with 
but  little  idea  of  any  representation  of  the  past. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  in  general  the  variation  of 
the  Historical  Present  with  the  Historical  Perfect  is  far 
from  arbitrary.  Yet  cases  will  be  found  where  no 
especial  reason  can  be  assigned  for  the  change  of  tenses. 
In  familiar  conversation,  particularly,  a  speaker  may 
easily  pass  from  one  to  the  other. 

The  variation  of   the  Imperfect  with  the   Historical 
Present  is  much  less  frequent  than  that   of   the    Perfect. 
This  follows  from  the  close  resemblance  between  the  His- 
torical Present  and  the  Imperfect.     An  examination  of  the 
passages  in  which  the  two  tenses  occur  again  emphasizes 
the  fact  that  the  special  function  of  the  Historical  Present 
is  to  portray  past  events  as  if  they  were  present,  whether 
these  events  be  continuative  or  aoristic  in  character.     As 
soon  as  the  continuance  of  the  action  is  to  be  emphasized, 
or  the  description  of  its  details  becomes  especially  impor- 
tant, the  Imperfect  is  used.     Thus  the  Imperfect  is  found 
most  frequently  of  verbs  that  denote  effort,  where  the  slow 
process   of  attainment  is   emphasized,    and  of  verbs  that 
denote  the  state  or  condition  of  some  subject.     The  Imper- 
fect of  sum  and  its  compounds  is  almost  as  frequent  as  the 
Perfect  because  it  often    describes  a  state   or   condition. 
The  rare  Historical  Present  of  these  verbs  puts  the  em- 
phasis on  the  fact  that  the  state  or  condition  exists  in  the 
sphere  that  the  speaker  is  regarding  as  present. 


28 


Furthermore,  the  Imperfect  is  used,  as  might  be 
supposed,  when  repeated  or  customary  actions  are  to  be 
described. 

The  Phiperfect  is  occasionally  found  in  the  same 
narration  with  the  Historical  Present,  but  is  always  accom- 
panied by  Historical  Perfects  and  Imperfects  as  well.  It 
is  used  to  denote  completion  in  the  past  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  actual  time  of  the  events.' 

Finally  is  to  be  noticed  the  variation  of  the  Historical 
Present  with  the  Historical  Infinitive.  This  variation  is 
not  infrequent  although  in  every  case  the  narration  also 
contains  other  tenses. 

The  nature  of  the  Historical  Infinitive,  like  that  of  the 
Historical  Present,  is  still  a  matter  of  dispute.  One  point, 
however,  is  generally  agreed  upon,  namely,  that  it  is  used 
to  give  a  rapid  sequence  of  events ;  and  this  seems  to  be 
its  function  in  ante-classical  Latin.  It  thus  resembles  the 
Imperfect  in  its  descriptive  character,  while  it  differs  from 
it  in  portraying,  not  the  slow  process  of  development,  but 
the  hurried  and  lively  and  sometimes  confused  succession 
of  details.  Even  where  the  Historical  Infinitive  resembles 
the  Imperfect  in  denoting  repeated  action  it  still  retains  its 
character  of  rapid  description.  The  Imperfect  denotes 
only  the  repetition.  The  Historical  Infinitive  includes  the 
idea  of  the  rapid  and  lively  succession  of  occurrences.* 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Historical  Infinitive  is  often 
compared  with  the  Historical  Present.       In    ante-classical 

*  There  is  one  example  of  a  Pluperfect  used  to  denote  an  instantaneous  action 
("riusquamperfektum  der  Schnelligkeit"),  Phormio  594.    See  Chapter  III,  A,  5. 

^So  Grysar,  Ueber  die  Bedeiitting  tmd  den  Gebrauch  des  historischen  lufini- 
tivsimLateinischen^  Zeitschrift  filrdie  osterreichischen  Gymnasien,  IV  (1853),  p. 
779:  "Dann  aber  hat  das  Imperfectum  nur  den  einfachen  Begriff  der  Wider- 
holung;  die  Merkmale  des  wechselnden,  bevveglichen,  des  raschen  Aufeinander- 
folgens,  kurz  diejenigen  Momente,  welche  eben  den  character  der  Lebendigkeit 
in  die  Schilderung  bringen,  liegen  nicht  im  Imperfect,  sondern  nur  in  dem 
Infinitive." 


29 

Latin,  at  least,  it  seems  to  resemble  the  Historical  Present 
in  that  it  represents  the  past  as  if  it  were  present,  and  to 
differ  from  it  in  that  it  is  more  essentially  descriptive.' 
The  Historical  Present  may  be  used  of  aoristic  as  well  as 
of  imperfect  conceptions,  and  it  has  been  indicated  that 
when  continuance  and  description  are  to  be  emphasized  it 
is  the  Imperfect,  not  the  Historical  Present,  which  is  used. 
The  Historical  Infinitive,  then,  while  it  differs  from  the 
Historical  Present  in  its  descriptive,  and  from  the  Imper- 
fect in  its  hurried  and  Hvely  character,  may  also  be  said 
to  combine  parts  of  the  natures  of  both  tenses.  For,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  like  the  Historical  Present  it  rep- 
resents past  events  as  if  they  were  going  on  in  the  present, 
and  like  the  Imperfect  it  describes  these  events. 

In  the  narrative  passages  in  ante-classical  Latin  in 
which  the  Historical  Infinitive  varies  with  the  Historical 
Present  and  other  tenses  its  peculiar  function  seems,  on  the 
whole,  to  be  clearly  maintained. 

In  concluding  this  general  discussion  of  the  variation 
of  the  Historical  Present  with  other  tenses,  the  question  of 
metrical  restrictions  must  be  taken  into  consideration.     In 

I  See  Grysar,  op.  cit.,  p.  777:  '*Das  praesens  historicum  und  der  historische 
Infinitiv  haben  dies  mit  einander  gemein,  dass  sie  etwas  vergangenes  vergegen- 
wartigen;  aber  durch  jenes  wird  immer  eine  einzelne  Thatsache,  ein  Ereigniss 
dargestellt,  wahrend,  wie  bereits  gesagt  worden,  durch  den  Infinitiv  ein  Zustand 
geschildert  wird."  Contrast  Mohr,  De  Infinitivo  Historico,  Halle,  1878,  p.  8: 
"hoc  reiciendum  est,  quod  dicunt,  quae  infinitivo  historico  narrentur  'quasi  in 
praesens  legentium  tempus  proferri.'  Cuius  opinionis  causa  fuit  haec,  quod 
false  hie  infinitivus  praesenti  tempori  tribuitur,  cum  certum  tempus  omnino  non 
significet.  Ea  enim  re  differt  a  praesente  historico,  quo  res  gestae  eis,  qui  legunt, 
aha  ex  alia  ante  oculos  proponuntur,  velut  si  eodem  temporis  momento  ab  ipsis 
conspiciantur."  And  Hoffmann,  Zeitfolge  nach  dem  Praesens  historicum, 
pp.  14-15:  "als  praesentischer  Infinitiv  ist  er  schlechthin  der  Name  der  Hand- 
lung  in  der  Phase  ihres  Vollzuges:  dass  er  eine  Vergegenwartigung  bewirke, 
die  betreffende  der  Vergangenheit  angehorige  Handlung  oder  Zustandlichkeit 
in  die  Zeit  des  Erzahlenden  rucke,  wird  man  schwerlich  behaupten 
vvollen." 


I   c  • 

t      t 


30 

any  form  of  poetry  the  choice  of  words  must  be  more  or 
less  determined  by  the  exigencies  of  the  metre,  and  it  may 
be   claimed   that  often  in  Plautus  and  Terence  no  other 
reason  need  be  sought  for  the  variation  in  tenses  than  the 
necessity  for  the  occurrence  of  long  or  short  syllables  in 
certain  parts  of  the  verse.     But  the  poets  must  be  credited 
with  the  ability  to  adapt  their  verses  to  normal  linguistic 
usages  ;  and  a  comparison  of  such  forms  as  acccdo,  accessi- 
duco,  duxi;  dico,  dixi,  etc.,  will  indicate  how  free  in  reality 
the  choice  of,  at  least,  Historical  Present  or  Historical  Per- 
fect  was.      In  comparatively  few  cases    in    Plautus    and 
Terence  is  it  difficult  to  explain  the  variation  of  the  Histori- 
cal   Present   with   other   tenses   on   more  thorough-going 
principles  than  the  external  necessities  of  metre.     That  in 
these  few  cases  metrical  restrictions  are  a  more  satisfactory 
explanation  than  the  spontaneity  of    colloquial  speech  is 
doubtful      The  influence  of  metre  is  not  by  any  means  to 
be  wholly  denied,  but  it  seems  hardly  justifiable  to  assume 
It   as    a   ground  for  variation  of  tenses,  parallel  to  more 
fundamental  principles  of  language. 

A  detailed  investigation  of  the  passages  in  which  the 
Historical  Present  varies  with  other  tenses  in  the  narration 
of  past  events  will  follow  in  Chapter  III. 

The  discussion  of  this  chapter  may  conclude  with  a  ! 
brief  reference  to  the  use  of  the  Historical  Present  in 
literature  as  distinguished  from  its  use  in  the  spoken  lan- 
guage. A  study  of  the  Historical  Present  in  ante-classical 
l^atin  shows  that,  originating  in  the  timeless  use  of  the 
present  tense,  it  was  used  in  the  colloquial  speech  of  the 
people  to  bring  past  events  before  the  mind  as  if  they 
were  going  on  in  the  present.  Such  representation  of  the 
past  involves  a  certain  liveliness  in  narration.  But  this 
liveliness  must  not  be  unduly  emphasized.  In  ordinary 
conversation  a  speaker  may  relate  past  events  as  if  they 


31 

were  present  without  wishing  to  convey  an  unusually 
lively  impression  of  these  events  to  his  hearers,  and  with- 
out himself  distinguishing  them  with  especial  vividness 
from  other  events.  Furthermore,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  in  a  colloquial  narration  a  speaker  is  conscious  of  the 
function  of  each  tense  that  he  uses,  and  that  the  reasons 
for  the  variation  of  the  Historical  Present  with  the  His- 
torical Perfect,  the  Imperfect,  etc.,  are  present  to  his 
own  mind. 

In  literature,  on  the  contrary,  the  Historical  Present 
became  a  conscious  rhetorical  device,  a  distinct  organon  of 
style.  It  was  in  origin  a  colloquial  and  vulgar  usage.  In 
the  hands  of  stylists  it  became,  through  its  power  of  rep- 
resenting the  past  as  present,  a  means  for  producing 
artistic  effects." 

Being  a  tense  of  narration,  the  Historical  Present  was 
naturally  used  with  especial  frequency  by  the  historians. 
Even  the  fragments  of  the  historians  of  the  ante-classical 
period  indicate  an  extended  employment  of  the  tense,  but 
no  certain  conclusions  as  to  the  manner  of  its  use  can  be 
drawn.  ^ 

The  original  colloquial  character  of  the  Historical 
Present,  rather  than  the  fact,  so  often  alleged,  that  it  is 
foreign  to  the  nature  of  epic  narration,  probably  explains 

■  So  Brugmann,  op.  at.,  p.  lyo:  "Das  praesens  historicum  beruht    . 

IusTth?  f  ""''™'°^^"  Gebrauch  dieses  Tempus,  und  es  erklart  s'ich 
daraus  d  e  Thatsache,  dass  das  praesens  historicum  in  den  meisten  Sprachen  auch 

s-e^rd      E   f/^""-"^'"^  '"^"'"^  ^^""•^"'S'^^"  desAu'sdruckes:: 
P     sel!  Erst  kuns.mass,ge  Handhal.ung  der  Sprache  bediente  sich  dieses 

•  raesens  als  ernes  vollkommenen  rehetorischen  Mittels  zur  Hervorliebung  und  zur 
Mebung  der  Darstellune."  ^ 

i"oU"lJ^T,l\  "         ''  "'  ''°"''"  "■""'°"  °'  '"<=  "'^'<'"-'  P-ent  became 

rkns  and       .    r  ^'"  '  '^°""'^''  investigation  of  the  tense  in  the  histo- 

lans,  and,  mdeed,  m  most  Latin  authors,  is  yet  to  be  made. 


32 

why  it  is  not  found  in  Homer  J  In  the  Latin  epic  the 
Historical  Present  is  widely  used,  which  might  seem  to 
be  an  indication  of  the  artificial,  or,  at  least,  rhetorical 
character  of  this  kind  of  literature  in  Latin. ^  The  frag- 
ments of  Naevius  and  Ennius  show  that  the  Historical 
Present  had  become  an  organon  of  style  even  in  the  early 
epic.  And  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Livius  Androni- 
cus  uses  the  tense  in  his  translation  of  the  Odyssey. 3 

That  the  Historical  Present  was  used,  in  early  Latin,  at 
least,  not  only  familiarly  in  conversation,  and  artistically 
in  literature,  but  also  in  public  documents,  is  indicated  by 
its  appearance  in  one  of  the  inscriptions  to  the  Scipios 
(Corpus  Inscri/ptwntifH  Latinartim,  I,  29)  : 

**  Tauresia  Cisauna  Samnio  cepit 
Suhigit  omne  Loucanam  opsidesque  abdoucit.'*'' 

Here  no  lively  representation  of  the  past  can  be  assumed. 
Neither  is  there  anything  in  the  nature  of  the  verbs  to  lead 
to  the  variation  between  the  Historical  Perfect  and  the 
Historical  Present.  The  inscription  is  of  peculiar  interest, 
since  it  seems  to  show  that  the  Historical  Present,  even  in 
language  so  nearly  allied  to  the  spoken  language  as  that 
of  such  documents,  tended  towards  an  aoristic  function, 
indistinguishable    from    that   of    the    Historical    Perfect. 

*  Cf.  Gildersleeve, /*/«fl'<r?r,  Introduction,  p.  102 :  **Brugmann  has  .  .  . 
vindicated  the  proethnic  rights  of  the  historical  present  on  the  just  ground  of  the 
timelessness  of  the  present.  It  is  therefore  not  a  little  remarkable  that  Pindar 
uses  it  as  little  as  Homer  uses  it.  To  them  the  historical  present  must  have  been 
either  too  vulgar  or  too  hurried."  Rhodemeyer,  op.  cit.y  p.  70,  explains  the  lack  of 
the  Historical  Present  in  Homer,  according  to  his  theory  of  the  nature  of  the  tense: 
**weil  es  im  Epos  weniger  am  Platze  war  eine  Handlung  nur  in  Betreff  der  Zeit 
durch  eine  andere  zu  bestimmen,  oder  gar  eine  notizenartige  Angabe  zu  machen." 

^In  Vergil,  according  to  Ley,  Vergilianarum  Quaestionum  specimen  prius,^ 
iie  temporum  tisuy  Saarbriicken,  1877,  the  Historical  Present  plays  a  somewhat 
peculiar  part,  in  that  it  denotes  regularly  a  resulting  action,  of  which  the  His- 
torical Perfect  denotes  the  ground.  For  indications  of  a  similar  use  of  the 
Historical  Present  m  the  early  epic,  see  Chapter  III,  B,  2,  a. 

3  Lines  28-30.     See  ibid* 


33 

This  tendency  may  be  explained  from  the  frequent  col- 
loquial usage  of  the  Historical  Present  to  represent  aoristic 
activities  of  the  past.* 

A  few  Historical  Presents  from  early  inscriptions  are 
also  preserved  in  the  grammarians.  Caesius  Bassus  quotes 
the  following  verse  from  the  votive  tablet  of  M'.  Acilius 
Glabrio :  ^ 

**  Fuiidit,  fugaty  prosternit  maxumas  legiones." 

And  Censorinus  quotes  a  similar  anonymous  verse,  prob- 
ably from  an  inscription  :  3 

"  Magnum  numerum  triumphat  hostibus  deuictis." 

All  of  these  Historical  Presents  are  excellent  illustrations 

'The  only  other  Historical  Present  that  can  be  cited  from  early  Latin  in- 
scriptions occurs  in  the  inscription  on  the  restored  Columna  Rostrata  ( C.  I.  L. 
I,  195),  where  one  Historical  Present  varies  arbitrarily  with  several    Historical 
Perfects : 

"Secestanosque Qp. 

sidioned  exemet,  lecionesque  Cartaciniensis  omnis 
maximosque  macistratos  luci  palam  post  dies 
novem  castreis  ecfociont.     Macelamque  opidom  vi 
pucnandod  cepet — "  etc. 

The  form  ecfociont,  however,  is  in  itself  doubtful,  in  addition  to  the  general 
doubtfulness  of  the  whole  inscription.  Mommsen  and  Ritschl  hold  that  the 
original  column  contained  either  no  inscription  at  all  or  a  very  brief  one,  and  that 
the  above  inscription  was  composed  for  the  restored  column  in  archaistic  style 
durmg  the  early  Empire,  probably  under  Claudius  (C.  /.  Z.,  I,  p.  40;  Ritschl's 
Opuscula  IV,  p.  204).  Wolfflin,  on  the  other  hand,  maintains  that  the  inscription 
IS  genumely  old,  and  that  the  restoration  of  it  in  the  time  of  Augustus  concerned 
only  the  forms  of  the  letters  C Sitzungsberichte  der  k.  bayerischen  Akademie  der 
Wissemchaften  zu  MUnchen,  phiL-hist.  CI.,  He/till  [1890],  p.  293). 

A  variation  of  Presents  with  Perfects  occurs  also  in  the  epitaph  of  Claudia 
{C.  I.  Z.,  I,  1007): 

'*  Suom  mareitum  corde  deilexit  sovo. 
Gnatos  duos  creavit :  horunc  alterum 
In  terra  linquit,  alium  sub  terra  locat. 
V>ovc).wvs\  servavit :  lanam  yO-r//." 

These  Presents,  however,  are  not  Historical.  But  see  Ritschl's  Opuscula,  IV. 
p.  223,  foot-note,  where  the  inscription  is  quoted  in  support  of  the  Historical 
1  resents  found  in  the  above  Scipio  inscription. 

'Keil,  Grammatici  Latiniy  VI,  265. 
^  Ibid.,  615. 


34 

of  the  tense,  but  their  isolation  from  other  tenses  makes 
it  impossible  to  decide  how  far,  in  the  original  context, 
they  may  have  vividly  represented  the  past,  or  how 
far,  like  those  in  the  Scipio  inscription  to  which  they 
seem  closely  parallel,  they  may  have  tended  towards  an 
aoristic  function. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE    VARIATION    OF    THE    HISTORICAL    PRESENT    WITH 

OTHER   TENSES. 

It  will  be  well  to  examine  first  passages  drawn  from 
the  comic  poets  and  from  Varro,  that  is,  from  the  litera- 
ture that  represents  most  nearly  the  speech  of  the  people, 
and  to  leave  for  later  consideration  passages  drawn  from 
tragedy,  from  the  epic  and  satire,  and  from  history,  that 
is,  from  the  remains  of  ante-classical  Latin  that  represent 
literary  styles. 

A. 
I.      The  Historical  Present  varied  with  the  Historical 

Perfect, 
a.  In  some  passages  the  description  of  a  scene  is 
introduced  by  a  Perfect;  given  by  Historical  Presents ; 
and  concluded  again  by  one  or  more  Perfects.  The  con- 
cluding Perfects  may  simply  state  the  occurrence  of  some 
event,  or  may  denote  some  sudden,  instantaneous  action, 
or  some  resulting  action. 

Tniculentus  645-55  : 

645     Rus  mane  dudum  hinc  ire  me  iussit  pater, 

Vt  bubus  glandem  prandio  depromerem. 

Post  illoc  ueni  quam  adtunit  si  deis  placet 

Ad  uillam  argentum  meo  qui  debebat  patri, 

Qui  ouis  Tarentinas  erat  mercatus  de  patre, 
650     Quaerit  patrem:  dico  esse  in  urbe,  interrogo 

Quid  eum  uelit.         *         ♦         ♦         ♦         ♦ 

Homo  cruminam  sibi  de  coJlo  detrahit^ 

Minas  uiginti  mi  dat^  accipio  lubens, 

Ccndo  in  cruminam:  ille  abiit^  ego  pera  minas 
655    Ouis  in  crumina  hac  in  urbem  detuli. 

Here  the  concluding  Perfects  are  of  sudden  actions, 

*  Leo  reads  ahity  thus  making  this  action  a  part  of  the  scene  itself. 


36 


37 


Cf .  Caftiui  478-89,  where,  after  one  scene  has  been  con- 
cluded by  a  Perfect  of  instantaneous  action  and  a  neg- 
atived Perfect,  activities  implying  a  succession  of 
scenes  are  portrayed  by  Historical  Presents,  and  the  de- 
scription is  left  suspended,  with  no  concluding  Perfect : 

Nam  ego  ut  dudum  hinc  abii,  accessi  ad  adulescentes  in  foro: 

*Salvete'  inquam.    *quo  imus'  inquam  'ad  prandium?'  atque  illi  iacent. 
480     'Quisait:   hoc?  aut  quis  profitetur?'   inquam-.   quasi  muti  j//^«/, 

Neque  me  r/a'ifw/.     *ubi  cenamus  una?'  inquam:  atque  illi  z?/';/ //<?«/. 

Dico  unum  ridiculum  dictum  de  dictis  melioribus, 

Quibus  solebam  menstrualis  epulas  ante  adipiscier: 

Nemo  ridet.    sciui  extemplo  rem  de  compecto  geri. 
485     Ne  canem  quidem  irritatum  uoluit  quisquam  imitarier, 

Saltem  si  non  arriderent,  dentes  ut  restringerent. 

Abeo  ab  illis,  postquam  uideo  me  sic  ludificarier: 

Pergo  ad  alios,  tienio  ad  alios,  deinde  ad  alios — una  res. 

Omnes  de  compecto  rem  agunt  quasi  in  Velabro  olearii. 

Note  the  negatived  Historical  Presents  in  481  and  484.^ 
In  Phorinio  859-881  one  scene  concludes  with  a  series  of 
Perfects,  denoting  a  series  of  single,  instantaneous 
actions.  After  an  intervening  dialogue  another  short 
scene  follows,  depicted  by  Historical  Presents,  and 
concluding  with  a  Perfect  of  resulting  action : 

Vt  modo  argentum  tibi  dedimus  apud  forum,  recta  domum 
860     Sumus  profecti;  interea  mittit  erus  me  ad  uxorem  tuam. 

Vbi  in  gynaeceum  ire  occipio,  puer  ad  me  adcurrit  Mida, 
Pone  prendit  pallio,  resupinat:  respicio,  rogo 
Quam  ob  rem  retineat  me :  ait  esse  uetitum  intro  ad  eram  accedere. 
865     'Sophrona  modo  fratrem  hue'  inquit  *senis  introduxit  Chremem*; 
Eumque  nunc  esse  intus  cum  illis.     hoc  ubi  ego  audiui,  ad  fores 
Suspenso  gradu  placide  ire  perrexi^  accessi^  astiti, 
Animam  compressi^  aurem  admoui  : 


patruos  interea  inde  hue  egreditur  foras : 
Hand  multo  post  cum  patre  idem  recipit  se  intro  denuo : 
880    Ait  uterque  tibi  potestatem  eius  adhibendae  dari. 
Denique  ego  sutn  missus. 

'  Cf.  Curculio^  352;  Aululariay  710;   Amphitruo,  238  and  239;   I/raufov 
Timorumenosy  140.     See  Chapter  II,  p.  26. 


f 


Similar  reasons  may  be  assigned  for  the  variation  of 
Historical  Presents  and  Historical  Perfects  in  Aulularia 
467-71;  Truculenius  Z9l-^og',  Casina  29-^S  I  Curculio 
596-97,  where  there  is  no  introductory  Perfect;  Adelfhi 
470-74,  where  the  scene  is  confined  to  a  single  Historical 
Present;  cf.  with  this  passage  Adelfhi  542,  where,  how- 
ever, there  is  no  concluding  Perfect;  so  also,  Varro,  dc 
re  rtistica  I,  2,  1-2,  where  the  scene  is  depicted  by  mquani, 
inquit^  inquit,^ 

b.  In  other  passages  the  description  of  the  scene 
itself  contains  Perfects,  as  well  as  being  introduced  and 
concluded  by  Perfects. 

In  Atclularia  371-84  the  scene,  introduced  by  a  Perfect, 
is  depicted  by  Historical  Presents,  varied  with  an 
explanatory,  almost  parenthetical,  fuerunt.  It  is  con- 
cluded by  a  Perfect  which  sums  up  preceding  activities, 
and   is    followed  by  Perfects  of  ordinary  narration  : 

Volui  animum  tandem  confirmare  hodie  meum, 

Vt  bene  haberem  me  filiae  nuptiis. 

Venio  ad  macellum,  rogito  pisces;   indicant 

Caros:  agninam  caram,  caram  bubulam, 
375     Vitulinam,  cetum,  porcinam,  cara  omnia: 

Atque  eo  fusrunt  cariora,  aes  non  erat.* 

Abeo  iratus  illinc,  quoniam  nil  est  qui  emam. 

Ita  illis  impuris  omnibus  adii  manum. 

Deinde  egomet  mecum  cogitare  inter  uias 
380     Occepi  :    festo  die  si  quid  prodegeris, 

Profesto  egere  liceat,  nisi  peperceris. 

Postquam  banc  rationem  uentri  cordique  edidi, 

Acccssit  animus  ad  meam  sententiam, 

Quam  minumo  sumptu  filiam  ut  nuptum  darem. 

Note  that  here  abeo  (377)  is  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  scene, 

*  But  see  Chapter  II,  p.  27. 

*  The  clause  containing  the  only  Imperfect  resembles  so  closely  a  subordinate 
causal  clause  that  the  passage  may  be  better  quoted  here  than  under  the  variation 
of  the  Historical  Present,  Historical  Perfect  and  Imperfect. 


whereas  it  is  often  used  in  the  Perfect  of  instantaneous 
action  to  conclude  a  scene.  Cf.  also  Capiui  487,  quoted 
above,  p.  ifi* 

In  Mosicllaria  1045-52  after  the  introductory  Perfect, 
the  description  of  the  scene  is  begun  by  Perfects  of 
ordinary  narration,  which  are  then  followed,  possibly 
under  the  stress  of  increasing  excitement,  by  Histor- 
ical Presents : 

1045     ^^'"  ilia  per  angiportum  ad  hortum  nostrum  clanculum. 
Ostium  quod  in  angiportost  horti,  patefeci  fores, 
Eaque   eduxi  omnem  legionem,  et  maris  et  feminas. 
Postquam  ex  opsidione  in  tutum  eduxi  maniplaris  meos, 
Capio  consilium,  ut  senatum  congerronum  conuocem. 

1050     Quoniam  conuocaui,  atque  illi  me  ex  senatu  segregant, 
Vbi  ego  me  uideo  uenire  in  meo  foro,  quantum  potest 
Facio  idem  quod  plurimi  alii  quibus  res  timida  aut  turbidast. 

In  Curculio  329-63  two  scenes  are  bound  together  into 
one  narration  by  the  Historical  Present  abeo^  which 
portrays  the  intervening  activity.  The  first  is  intro- 
duced by  a  Perfect  and  described  by  Historical 
Presents,  except  for  resfondit,  for  which,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  Historical  Presents,  there  seems  to 
be  no  especial  reason,  and  the  negative  nolutt.  After 
abeo  follows  the  second  scene,  very  vivaciously  de- 
scribed by  Historical  Presents,  varying  only  with  an 
explanatory  and  almost  parenthetical /«//,  with  the 
negative  nolm\  and  with  opfosiuit,  for  which  there 
seems  to  be  no  especial  reason.  The  scene  ends  with 
a  Perfect  of  instantaneous  action : 

Postquam  tuo  iussu  profectus  sum,  perueni  in  Cariam: 
330     Video  tuom  sodalem,  argenti  rogo  uti  fadat  copiam. 
Scires  uelle  gratiam  tuam :   noluit  frustrariar, 
Vt  decet  uelle  hominem  amicum  amico  atque  opitularier : 
Rfspondit  mihi  paucis  uerbis  atque  adeo  fideliter, 
Quod  tibist  item  sibi  esse,  magnam  argenti  inopiam. 


39 

Postquam  mihi  responsumst,  abeo  ab  illo  maestus  ad  forum, 
Med  illo  frustra  aduenisse.     forte  aspicio  militem : 

A^gredior  hominem,  saluto  adueniens:   *  salve  '  i7iquit  mihi, 

Prendit  dexteram,  seducit,  rogat  quid  ueniam  Cariam : 
340    Dico  me  illo  aduenisse  animi  causa,     ibi  me  inter  rami, 

Ecquem  in  Epidauro  Lyconem  tarpezitam  nouerim. 

Z>/<r^  me  nouisse.     'Quid?  lenonem  Cappadocem?'  Annuo 

Visitasse.     '  Sed  quid  eum  uis?  '     *  Quia  de  illo  emi  uirginem 

Triginta  minis,  uestem,  aurum:  et  pro  his  decem  coaccedunt  minae.' 
345     '  Dedisti  tu  argentum?  '  inquam,     •  Immo  apud  trapezitam  situmst 

Ilium  quem  dixi  Lyconem,  atque  ei  mandaui,  qui  anulo 

Meo  tabellas  obsignatas  attulisset,  ut  daret 

Operam,  ut  mulierem  a  lenone  cum  auro  et  ueste  abduceret.' 

Postquam  hoc  mihi  narrauit,  abeo  ab  illo.  7'euocat  me  ilico, 
350     Vocat  me  ad  cenam :  religio  fuit^  denegare  nolui. 

*  Quid  si  abeamus,  decumbamus?  '  inquit.     consilium  placet; 

Neque  diem  decet  me  morari  neque  nocti  nocerier. 

Omnis  res  paratast '  et  nos  quibus  paratumst  assumus. 

Postquam  cenati  atque  appoti,  talos  poscit  sibi  in  manum, 
355     Prouocat  me  in  aleam,  ut  ego  ludam.    pono  pallium: 

Ille  suom  anulum  opposiuit^  inuocat  Planesium. 

iacit  uolturios  quattuor. 

Talos  arripio,  inuoco  almam  meam  nutricem  Herculem, 

lacto  basilicum,//'^//«f?  magnum  poclum:  ille  ebibit^ 
360    Caput  deponit^  condormiscit.     ego  ei  subduco  anulum, 

Deduco  pedes  de  lecto  clam,  ne  miles  sentiat. 

Rogant  me  serui  quo  earn:  dico  me  ire  quo  saturi  solent. 

Ostium  ubi  conspexi,  exinde  me  ilico  protinam  dedi, 

lv\  Adelpht  6i*]'2^  the  scene,  introduced  by  a  Perfect,  is 
described  by  Historical  Presents  and  concluded  by 
two  Perfects  of  momentary  action : 

id  anus  mi  indicium  fecit. 
Nam  ut  hinc  forte  ad  obstetricem  erat  missa,  ubi  eam  uidi,  ilico 
Accedoy  rogitOy  Pamphila  quid  agat,  iam  partus  adsiet, 
620    Eon  obstetricem  accersat.     ilia  exclamat  *  abi,  abi:  iam,  Aeschine, 
Satis  diu  dedisti  uerba:  sat  adhuc  tua  nos  frustratast  fides.' 
*Hem,   quid   istuc   obsecro  *    inquam   *est?*  •  ualeas,  habeas  illam 

quae  placet.* 
Sensi  ilico  id  illas  suspicari :  sed  reprehendi  me  tamen, 
Ne  quid  de  fratre  gamilae  illi  dicerem  ac  fieret  palam. 

*  Historical  Present  {est  parata),  rather  than  Perfect. 


40 

Other  passages  in  which  the  description  of  a  scene 
that  is  introduced,  or  concluded,  or  both,  by  Perfects  con- 
tains also  Perfects  in  itself  are  :  Miles  Gloriosiis  174-79; 
Adelfhi  405-7  ;    Eunuchus  130-43  ;    Andria  855-8. 

In  some  passages  a  scene  is  described  by  Historical 
Presents  and  Perfects,  without  introductory  or  concluding 
Perfects. 

Pocnulus  650-66,  where  the  Historical  Presents  vary  with 
one  Perfect  of  instantaneous  action  : 

650     Nisi  dudum  mane  ut  ad  portum  processimus, 
Atque  istum  e  naui  exeuntem  oneraria 
Videmus.     adiit  ad  nos  extemplo  exiens: 
Saluiat,  respondemus,  .... 

•  •••••••• 

655     .         .         .         Sermonem  ibi  nobiscum  copulai. 
Ait  se  peregrinum  esse 

In  Casina  321-23  the  description  of  the  scene,  begun  in 
Historical  Presents,  is  interrupted  by  a  question,  and  then 
taken  up  again  by  a  Perfect  of  simple  narration : 

Ol.     orat^  obsecraty 
Ne  Casinam  uxorem  ducat.     Ly.     Quid  tu  postea? 
Ol.     Negaui. 

In  Asinaria  343-56  the  variation  is  chiefly  in  the  tenses  of 
verbs  of  saying,  and  seems  to  have  no  especial 
reason : 

Verum  in  tonstrina  ut  sedebam,  me  infit  percontarier, 
Ecquem  filium  Stratonis  nouerim  Demaenetum. 
345     Dico  me  nouisse  extemplo  et  me  eius  servum  praedico 
Esse  et  aedis  demonstratii  nostras. 
Jlit  se  ob  asinos  ferre  argentum  atriensi  Saureae, 


350     Quoniam  ille  elocutus  haec  sic         ...         . 
Extemplo  facio  facetum  me  atque  magnificum  uirum, 
Dico  med  esse  atriensem.     sic  hoc  respondit  mihi: 


Ego  me  dixi  erum  adducturum. 

Note   in   345    and   351    the  Historical  Presents  modified 


N 


P^H 


41 

by  extemplo,  an  adverb  that  more  naturally  accompanies 
a  Perfect  of  instantaneous  or  sudden  action,  as,  for  exam- 
ple, in  Poenulus  652,  quoted  above,  p.  40.^ 

In  Andria  353-65  a  vivid  narration  contains  descriptions  of 
two  scenes,  which,  together  with  the  intervening  and 
the  following  activities  of  the  narrator,  are  portrayed 
by  Historical  Presents,  except  for  two  Perfects  at  the 
end,  of  instantaneous  and  momentary  actions : 

Tuos  pater  modo  me  prehendit:  ait  tibi  uxorem  dare 
Hodie,  item  alia  multa,  quae  nunc  non  est  narrandi  locus. 
355  Continuo  ad  te  properans /^r^«rr^  ad  forum,  ut  dicam  haec  tibi. 
Vbi  te  non  inuenio,  ibi  ascendo  in  quendam  excelsum  locum. 
Circumspicio:  nusquam.     forte  ibi  huius  tddeo  Byrriam; 
Rogo:  negatm^x'&^Q:.     mihi  molestum;   quid  agam  r(7^//o. 
Redeunti  interea  ex  ipsa  re  mi  incidit  suspicio 

Ego  me  continuo  ad  Chremem. 
Quom  illo  aduenio,  solitudo  ante  ostium :  iam  id  gaudeo. 

Maneo.     interea  intro  ire  neminem 
Video y  exire  neminem ;   matronam  nullam  in  aedibus, 
365  Nil  ornati,  nil  tumulti:  accessi\   intro  aspexi. 

Note   accessi  here   over  against  accedo  in  Adelphi  619, 
quoted  above,  p.  39. 

In  Hecyra  38-42  the  scene  of  the  second  failure  of  the 
play  is  vividly  portrayed  by  Historical  Presents,  end- 
ing with  the  negatived  fotiii: 

refer o  denuo. 
Primo  actu  placeo.     quom  interea  rumor  uenit 
40  Datum  iri  gladiatores,  populus  coniiolat, 
Tumulttiantur  clamant  pugnant  de  loco: 
Ego  interea  meum  non  potui  tutari  locum. 

The  description  of   this  scene  is  preceded   {ZZ'Z^)  by  a 

quieter  narration  in  Perfects  of  the  first  failure. 

In  Andria  253-57  the  only  Historical  Present  is  inquit. 

*Cf.  for  the  Historical  Present  with  extemplo^  Captivi  513;  Casina  41; 
Cistellaria  182-83  and  572.  Cf.  also  the  Historical  Present  with  derepente,  Mos- 
tellarxa  488;  and  with  ilico,  Aulularia  709;  Pseudolus  1281;  Rudens  62-63; 
-/w//^//;-«^  216-17  and  243;    Cwrrw/^  349;   Adelphi  di^-i^-,   Eunuchus,  <,-j6. 


42 

This  is  followed  by  an  explanatory  idstist  dicere,  and  by 
obstifiii  and  obmutui  of  momentary  actions. 

In  Phorfuio  910-11  the  variation  is  between  dehortatus  est 
and  inquit. 

In  Heauton  Timorumenos  768  and  772,  between  dixit  and 

dicit,^ 
In    Varro,    de    re    rustica,  I,   2,   24-5,  between    suscifity 

inquit  and  coepit. 
In    L.    Pomponius  170-2  Perfects  of   single,  momentary 
actions  vary  with  an  Historical  Present  of  continued 
action  : 

.     simul  intro  ueni,  accessi  ad  patrem,  prendi  manum: 
In  terram,  ut  cubabat,  nudam  ad  eum  ut  conquexi,  interim 
Mulieres  conspiciunt. 

Contrast  with  interim  conspiciunt  in  the  above  pas- 
sage, inter ca  as f  exit  in  Sextus  Turpilius  72-4  : 

Ducit  me  secum :  postquam  ad  aedes  uenimus, 
Veneratur  deos,  interea  aspexit  uirginem 
Ibi  stantem,         ...... 

where  the  Perfect  denotes  an  instantaneous  action  (caught 
sight  of) . 

c.  In  some  prologue  and  similar  passages  in  Plautus, 
composed  not  so  much  of  descriptions  of  dramatic  scenes 
as  of  long  narrations  of  events,  a  Perfect  form  of  sum 
introduces  the  characters,  or  sets  the  time  of  the  narrative, 
which  is  then  given  in  Historical  Presents,  varying  with 
other  tenses. 
Poenulus  59-90,^  where  characters  are  introduced  hy  fuerc, 

*  Contrast  passages  which,  in  the  variation  of  Perfect  and  Present  of  verbs  of 
saying,  are  at  first  sight  similar  to  those  quoted  above,  but  in  which  the  Present 
instead  of  being  Historical,  denotes,  rather,  an  action  that  is  conceived  of  as 
continuing  into  the  present  time.     So  Andria  687-8: 

Orare  iussit        ....        ut  ad  sese  uenias: 

Videre  ait  te  cupere. 

Cf.  Phormio  798-99. 

"On  the  Plautine  authorship  of  this  prologue  see  Leo,  Plautinische 
Forschungen,  p.  1 91. 


43 

Carthaginienses  fratres  patrueles  duo 
60     Fuej-e  summo  genere  et  summis  ditiis, 

and  a  narrative  concerning  them  follows  in  Historical 
Presents,  concluding  with  a  Perfect.  Another  set  of 
characters  is  then  introduced  by  another  fuere^ 

^Tf     Sed  illi  patruo  huius  qui  uiuit  senex 
Carthaginiensi  duae  fuere  filiae, 

and  a  narrative  concerning  them  follows  in  Historical 
Presents  and  one  Perfect  (periere). 

In  Cistellaria  156-96 '  the  time  is  set  by 

fuere  Sicyoni  iam  diu  Dionysia, 

and  the  narrative  follows  in  Historical  Presents  and 
Perfects,  which  vary  for  no  especial  reason. 
Cf.  Captiui  7-34,^  quoted  below,  p.  44.3 

d.  In  some  narrative  passages  the  Historical  Pres- 
ents seem  to  express  the  main  and  important  facts,  while 
the  subordinate  or  the  connected  facts  are  expressed  by 
Perfects. 

Curculio  682-85  : 

Velut  decern  minas  dum  soluit,  omnis  mensas  transiit : 
Postquam  nil  fit,  clamore  hominem  posco  :  ille  in  ius  me  uocat, 
Pessime  metui^  ne  mihi  hodie  apud  praetorem  solueret : 
685     Verum  amici  compulerunt :  reddit  argentum  domo. 

Mcnaeckmi  449-50 : 

Vbi  ego  dum  hieto,  Menaechmus  se  subterduxit  mihi 
Atque  abit^  ad  amicam,  credo,  neque  me  uoluit  ducere. 

Andria  284-98  : 

iam  ferme  moriens  me  uocat: 
285     Accessi;  vios  semotae ;  nos  soli;    incipit 


*See  Leo,  op.  cit.,  pp.  192-3.  *  See  ibid.^  pp.  184-6.  *In  Miles 

Gloriosus  99-133  (see  p.  46)  the  Imperfect  <rra/ introduces  a  character. 
*  Leo,  abiit  after  F  Z  ;   abit  rests  upon  better  authority,  A  B  D. 


44 


45 


Hanc  mi  in  manum  dat ;  mors  continue  ipsam  occupai. 
Accepi, 

In  Captiii?  7-34,  in  the  description  of  the  fate  of  the  two 
brothers,  the  most  important  fact  in  regard  to  each 
one  is  expressed  by  an  Historical  Present  (note  that 
the  characters  of  the  narration  are  introduced  by 
/uertint)  : 

7     Seni  huic  fuerunt  filii  nati  duo : 

Alterum  quadrimum  puerum  seruos  surpiiit 
Eumque  hinc  profugiens  uendidit  in  Alide — etc. ; 

and  then : 

Postquam  belligerant  Aetoli  cum  Aleis, 
25     Vt  fit  in  bello,  capitur  alter  filius. 

Medicus  Menarchus  efiiit  ibidem  in  Alide — etc. 

In  Miles  Gloriosus  287-89  the  variation  is  especially  inter- 
esting because  the  verbs  are  similar : 

Forte  fortuna  per  impluuium  hue  despexi  in  proxumum; 
Atque  ego  illi  aspicio  osculantem  Philocomasium  cum  altero 
Nescioque  adulescente. 

It  can  scarcely  be  maintained  that  the  di^erence 
between  the  Perfect  and  the  Historical  Present  in  this 
passage  lies  only  in  the  character  of  the  action  denoted  by 
each.^ 

Cf .  L.  Pomponius  69  : 

Incepi  contui:  conspicio  coleatam  cuspidem. 

In  Sextus  Turpilius  75-6  an  explanatory  Perfect  follows 
an  Historical  Present  of  the  main  event : 

Erus  stupidus  adstat :  ita  [enim]  eius  aspectus  repens 
Cor  torporauit  homini  amore. 

In  two  Plautine  passages  the  Historical  Presents  mark 
crises,  as  it  were,  in  the  midst  of  events  narrated  by  the 
Perfects. 

*  Contrast  Stichus  367  and  371  (see  p.  50),  where  the  variation  of  a  Perfect 
and  an  Historical  Present  of  the  same  verb  is  due  to  the  character  of  the  actions 
denoted  by  each:  conspicatus  sum  interim  (in  the  meantime  I  caught  sight  of), 
and  interibi  conspicio  (meanwhile  I  see). 


Mcrcator  192-203  : 


Armamentis  complicandis,  componendis  studuiinus. 
Dum  haec  aguntur,  lembo  aduehitur  tuos  pater  pauxillulo, 
Neque  quisquam  hominem  conspicatust,  donee  in  naui  super.* 


Postquam  aspexit  mulierem, 
200     Rogitare  occepit^  quoia  esset.         .         .         IHco 

Occucurri  *  atque  interpcllo  :  matri  te  ancillam  tuae 
Emisse  illam.  ..... 

Sed  scelestus  subigitare  occepity 

where  the  sudden  appearance  of  the  father  to  the 
consternation  of  the  slave,  and  the  interruption  of  the 
father  by  the  slave  at  the  moment  when  the  secret  is 
about  to  be  discovered  are  marked  by  Historical 
Presents. 

So  in  Rudens  366-71  the  only  Historical  Present  marks  a 
crisis  led  up  to  by  one  series  of  Perfects,  and  fol- 
lowed by  another  series  : 

De  naui  timidae  ambae  in  scapham  insiluimus^  quia  uidemus 
Ad  saxa  nauem  ferrier:  properans  exsohii  restim, 
Dum  illi  timent.     nos  cum  scapha  tempestas  dextrouorsum 
Differt  ab  illis.     itaque  nos  uentisque  fluctibusque 
370     /^r/rt/^r^?  exemplis  plurimis  miserae  perpetuam  noctem: 
Vix  hodie  ad  litus  pertulit  nos  uentus  exanimatas. 

2.      The  Historical  Present  varied  with  the   Imferfect, 
This  variation  is  of  very  rare  occurrence.     No  exam- 
ples are  found  in  Plautus  and  Terence,  and  only  one  in 
the  comic  fragments. 

L.  Afranius  140 : 

Proficiscor  :  res  tempus  locus,  simul  otium  koftabatur^ 

where  the  Imperfect  denotes  the  persisting  cause. 

*  Leo,  donee  in  navem  subit. 

^TheMSSvary  between  occucurri  and  occurri ;   Keil  and  Miiller  emend 
occurro. 


46 

3.      The   Historical  Present  varied  with  the  Historical 

Perfect  and  the  linper/ect. 

a.     In    some    passages    the    Imperfect  describes  the 

state  or  condition  of  its  subject. 

Miles  Gloriosus  99—133,  where  a  descriptive  Imperfect 
(erat)  introduces  a  character,  and  is  followed  by 
another  Imperfect  describing  his  condition.  A  simple 
statement  of  fact  follows  in  the  Perfect.  Then  comes 
a  narrative  which  portrays  by  Historical  Presents  a 
succession  of  scenes.  The  Historical  Presents  vary 
with  occefity  perii,  and  with  dedit,  which  may,  per- 
haps, denote  an  instantaneous  action.  The  narrative 
closes  with  a  series  of  Perfects  of  single,  momen- 
tary actions,  and  a  negatived  Perfect  of  ordinary 
narration  : 

Erat  erus  Athenis  mihi  adulescens  optumus. 
ICK)     Is  amabat  meretricem  matre  Athenis  Atticis 

Et  ilia  ilium  contra :  quist  amor  cultu  optumus. 

Is  publice  legatus  Naupactum  fuit 

Magnai  rei  publicai  gratia. 

Interibi  hie  miles  forte  Athenas  aduenit. 
105     Insinuat  sese  ad  illam  amicam  eri 

Occepit  eius  matri  subpalparier 

Vino,  ornamentis  opiparisque  obsoniis: 

Itaque  intumum  ibi  se  miles  apud  lenam  facit, 

Vbi  primum  euenit  militi  huic  occasio, 
no     Suhlinit  os  illi  lenae,  matri  mulieris 

Quam  erus  meus  amabat.     nam  is  illius  filiam 

Conicit  in  nauem  miles  clam  matrem  suam 

Eamque  hue  inuitam  mulierem  in  Ephesum  aduehit. 

Vbi  amicam  erilem  Athenis  auectam  scio, 
115     Ego  quantum  uiuos  possum  mihi  nauem  paro  : 

InscendOy  ut  earn  rem  Naupactum  ad  erum  nuntiem. 

Vbi  sumus  prouecti  in  altum,  fit  quod  di  uolunt: 

Capiuni  praedones  nauem  illam  ubi  uectus  fui. 

Prius  peril  quam  ad  erum  ueni  quo  ire  occeperam. 
120     Ille  qui  me  cepit,  dat  me  huic  dono  militi. 

Hie  postquam  in  aedis  me  ad  se  deduxit  domum, 

Video  illam  amicam  erilem  Athenis  quae  fuit. 

Vbi  contra  aspexit  me,  oculis  mihi  signum  dedit^ 


47 

Ne  se  appellarem.     deinde,  postquam  occasiost, 

125      Conqueritur  mecum  mulier  fortunas  suas. 

Ait  sese  Athenas  fugere  cupere  ex  hac  domu: 
Sese  ilium  amare  meum  erum  Athenis  qui  fuit, 
Neque  peius  quemquam  odisse  quam  istum  militem. 
Ego  quoniam  inspexi  mulieris  sententiam, 

130     Cepi  tabellas,  consignaui  elanculum, 

Dedi  mercatori  quoidam  qui  ad  ilium  deferat 
Meum  erum  qui  Athenis  fuerat,  qui  hanc  amauerat, 
Vt  is  hue  ueniret.     is  non  spreuit  nuntium. 

In  Casina  881-932  (a  ver}^  corrupt  passage)  the  three  Im- 
perfects are  all  forms  of  stem.  The  description  of  a 
scene  is  introduced  by  a  Perfect  and  given  by  His- 
torical Presents,  varying  with  the  Imperfects,  with 
Perfects  of  momentary^  action  (one  is  also  negatived), 
and  with  fuit,  occepi  and  coepi.  The  description 
ends  with  exeo^  in  the  Historical  Present  instead  of 
in  the  more  usual  concluding  Perfect  of  instantaneous 
action. 

In  Amphitruo  1061-71  the  description  of  a  scene  is  intro- 
duced by  a  Perfect  and  given  by  Historical  Presents, 
one  Perfect  of  instantaneous  action,  and  one  of 
ordinary  narration.  This  narrative  Perfect  is  ex- 
plained by  an  Imperfect,  which,  by  describing  the 
condition  of  its  subject,  gives  the  persisting  cause. 
The  description  is  concluded  by  negatived  Perfects, 
which  are  outside  of  the  direct  line  of  the  narration, 
and  denote  antecedent  actions  : 

Ita  erae  meae  hodie  contigit:  nam  ubi  parturit,  deos  sibi  inuocat^ 
Strepitus,    crepitus,    sonitus   tonitrus:    ut  subito,  ut  propere,  ut  ualide 

tonuit. 
Vbi  quisque  institerat,  concidit  crepitu:  ibi  nescioquis  maxuma 
Voce  exclamat:    ♦  Alcumena,  adest  auxilium,  ne  time: 
1065     Et  tibi  et  tuis  propitius  coeli  cultor  aduenit. 

Exsurgite  '  inquit  *  qui  terrore  meo  oceidistis  prae  metu.' 
Vt  iacui,  exurgo:  ardere  censui  aedis:  ita  turn  confulgebant. 
Ibi  me  exclamat  Alcumena :  iam  ea  res  me  horrore  adficit. 


X 


48 

Erilis  praeuortit  metus :  accurro  ut  sciscam  quid  uelit : 
1070     Atque  illam  geminos  filios  pueros  peperisse  conspicor  : 

Neque  nostrum  quisquam  sensimuSy  quom  peperit,  ncque  protiidinius. 

In  P/wrmioSig-'j^  the  only  Imperfect  (wsan/dal,  642)  de- 
scribes the  condition  of  one  of  the  characters.  The 
scene  is  portrayed  by  Historical  Presents,  varying 
with  explanatory  Perfects. 

In  Eu7iuchus  575-603  a  Perfect  introduces  the  description 
of  a  long  scene  which  is  portrayed  by  Historical 
Presents,  varying  with  a  descriptive  Imperfect 
(inerat),  the  Perfect  cocpt\  another  Imperfect 
descriptive  of  a  condition  (gaudebat)^  a  narrative 
Perfect,  a  series  of  Perfects  of  single,  instantaneous 
actions,  hurried  over,  as  it  were,  in  order  to  get  to 
the  main  point  again,  and  a  negatived  Perfect,  denot- 
ing an  action  antecedent  to  the  action  denoted  by 
the  following  Historical  Presents  : 

575  traditus  sum  mulicri. 

Ilia  ilico  ubi  me  accepit,  laeta  uero  ad  se  abducit  domum; 
Cotnmendat  uirginem.  .... 

Edicit  ne  uir  quisquam  ad  earn  adeat,  et  mihi  ne  abscedam  inperat; 
In  interiore  parte  ut  maneam  solus  cum  sola,     adnuo 

580     lerram  intuens  modeste.     .     .     *  Ego  *  inquit  '  ad  cenam 
hinc  eo  ' : 
Abducit  secum  ancillas;   paucae,  quae  circum  illam  essent,  nianent 
Nouiciae  puellae.     continuo  haec  adornant  ut  lauet. 
Adhortor  properent.     dum  adparatur,  uirgo  in  conclaui  sedet 
Suspectans  taVnilam  quandam  pictam;   ibi  inerat  pictura  haec,  loueni 

585     Quo  pacto  Danaae  misisse  aiunt  quondam  in  gremium  imbrem  aureum. 
Egomet  quoque  id  spectare  coepi  :  et  quia  consimilem  luserat 
lam  olim  ille  ludum,  inpendio  magis  animus  gaudebat  mihi, 
Deum  sese  in  hominem  conuortisse  atque  in  alienas  tegulas 
Venisse  clanculum  per  pluuium  fucum  factum  mulicri. 

590     At  quem  deum  !     qui  templa  coeli  summa  sonitu  concutit. 

Ego  hoc  homuncio  non  facerem  ?    Ego  illud  uero  ita  feci  ac  lubens. 

Dum  haec  mecum  reputo,  accersitur  lauatum  interea  uirgo : 

lity  lauity  rediit ;  deinde  eam  in  lecto  illae  conloaxrunt} 

Sto  expectans,  siquid  mi  imperent.  uenit  una  *  heus  tu  '  inquit  '  Dore, 

*  So  A  D  G;   conlocant  B  C  E  F  P. 


49 

595     Cape  hoc  flabellum,  uentulum  huic  sic  facilo,  dum  lauamus^ 
Vbi  nos  lauerimus,  si  uoles,  lauato.'     accipio  tristis. 

Vix  clocutast  hoc,  foras  simul  omnes  proruont  se, 
600     Abeunt  lauatum,  perstrepunt,  ita  ut  fit,  domini  ubi  absunt. 
Interea  somnus  uirginem  opprimit.     ego  limis  specto 
Sic  per  flabellum  clanculum;   simul  alia  circumspccto^ 
Satin  explorata  sint.     uideo  esse,      pessulum  ostio  obdc. 

Note  that  the  narrative,  instead  of  being  brought  to 
a  close,  as  is  often  the  case,  by  a  Perfect,  is  left  suspend- 
ed by  an  Historical  Present.  That  it  is  unfinished  is 
shown  by  the  following  question  asked  by  the  other  mem- 
ber in  the  dialogue,  "quid  turn?"  and  the  narrators 
reply,  "quid  'quid  turn'  fatue?" 

/;.     In  some  passages  it  is  the  activity  rather  than  the 
condition  of  a  subject  which  is  described  by  the  Imperfect. 
The  idea  of  continuance  is  always  more  or  less  prominent, 
as  it  is  in  any  descriptive  use  of  the  Imperfect. 
Captitii  500-12  : 

500     Quid  est  suauius  quam  bene  rem  gerere  bono  publico,  sicut  ego  feci 
heri, 

Quom  emi  hosce  homines?     ubi  quisque  uident,  eunt  obuiam 

GratulanturK\MQ  eam  rem.     ita  me  miserum  restitando 

Ketinendoque  lassum  reddidcrunt  : 

Vix  ex  gratulando  miser  iam  eminebam, 
505     Tandem  abii  ad  praetorem.     ibi  uix  requicui^ 

Kogo  syngraphum:  datur  mihi  ilico:  dedi  Tyndaro:  ille  abiit  domuni. 

Inde  ilico  reuortor  *  domum,  postquam  id  actumst. 

Eo  protinus  ad  fratrem  inde,  mei  ubi  sunt  alii  captiui  : 

Rogo  Philocratem  ex  Alide  ecquis  omnium 
510     Nouerit.     tandem  hie  ^jr<;-^/;//rt/  eum  sibi  esse  sodalem. 

Dico  eum  esse  apud  me :   hie  extemplo  orat  obsccratquCj 

Eum  sibi  ut  liceat  uidere.     iussi  ilico  hunc  exsolui. 

Here  a  Perfect  introduces  the  description  of  a  scene.  Two 
Historical  Presents  follow,  bringing  the  scene  vividly 
before  the  mind.   These  are  followed  by  an  explanatory 

*  Leo,  praeuortor. 


I 


so 

Perfect  of  resulting  action.  Then  comes  an  Imperfect, 
describing  the  slow  process  of  extrication  from  the 
crowd  (note  also  the  negative),  then  an  instantaneous 
Perfect  of  the  final  wrench.  A  negatived  Perfect  fol- 
lows, before  another  scene  is  vividly  brought  before 
the  mind  by  two  Historical  Presents,  and  its  descrip- 
tion closed  by  Perfects  of  instantaneous  action.  The 
description  of  another  scene  follows  in  Historical  Pres- 
ents and  closes  with  a  Perfect  of  instantaneous  action. 
In  Stichtis  364-71  the  descriptive  Imperfect  (sol  suferahat 
365)  marks  the  time  of  the  scene,  which  is  por- 
trayed by  Historical  Presents,  varying  with  one 
Perfect  of  momentary  action.^ 

In  Epidictts  209-21,  236-54  Imperfects  play  an  impor- 
tant part.  A  festival  scene  is  portrayed.  The 
description  opens  with  lively  Historical  Presents. 
Then  follow  more  distinctly  descriptive  Imperfects, 
interrupted  only  by  the  Historical  Present  uideo. 
After  an  interval  the  narrative  is  taken  up  again  by 
Perfects  of  ordinar}'  narration  (including  occepcrc, 
and  absccsst  which  may,  perhaps,  express  instan- 
taneous action),  and  by  descriptive  Imperfects, 
followed  bv  a  Perfect  of  ordinarv  narration  and  two 
lively  Historical  Presents  (all  verbs  of  saying).  The 
narrative  closes  with  Perfects  of  ordinary  narration 
(including  coepi)  and  an  Imperfect  {aiebat)  : 

Arma  referunt  et  iumenta  ducunt.         .... 
210     Turn  captiuorum  quid  ducunt  secum:   pueros,  uirgines, 

Binos  ternos  alius  quisque.    fit  concursus  per  uias : 

Filios  suos  quisque  uisunt.         ..... 

Turn  meretricum  numerus  tantus  quantum  in  urbe  omni  fuit 

Obuiam  ornatae  occurrebant  suis  quaeque  amatoribus : 
215     Eos  captabani.     id  adeo  qui  maxume  animum  aduorterim: 

Pleraeque  eae  sub  uestimentis  secum  habcbant  reda. 

Quom  ad  portam  uenio,  atque  ego  illam  illi  uideo  praestolarier 

^  See  above,  p.  44,  foot-note. 


51 

Et  cum  ea  tibicinae  ibant  quattuor. 
Ea  praestolabatur  ilium  apud  portam. 


240 


245 


Occepere  aliae  mulieres 
Duae  sic  post  me  fabulari  inter  sese :  ego  abscessi  sciens 
Paulum  ab  illis :  dissimulabam  earum  operam  sermoni  dare : 
Nee  satis  exaudibam  nee  sermonis  fallebar  tamen, 
Quae  loquerentur.         .         .         Ibi  illarum  altera 
Dixit  illi  quicum  ipsa  ibat —         ..... 
Postquam  illam  sunt  conspicatae,  quam  tuos  gnatus  deperit: 
'  Quam  facile  et  quam  fortunate  euenit  illi,  obsecro, 
Mulieri  quam  liberare  uolt  amator.'     '  Quisnam  is  est? ' 
Inquit  altera  illi :  ibi  ilia  nominat  Stratippoclem, 


Coepi  rursum  uorsum  ad  illas  pausillatim  accedere, 
250     Ibi  ilia  interrogauit  illam :   *  Qui  scis?  quis  id  dixit  tibi? ' 

Haec  sic  aiebat. 

In  I  I  canton  Tmiorumcnos  275-307  a  scene  is  portrayed  b}' 
Historical  Presents,  varying  with  one  Perfect  of 
instantaneous  action,  two  almost  parenthetical  Per- 
fects, and  three  Imperfects,  two  of  which  are  descrip- 
tive of  activities,  one  of  a  state : 

Sy.     275     Vbi  uentum  ad  aedis  est,  Dromo  pultat  fores; 

Anus  quaedam  prodit;  haec  ubi  aperit  ostium, 

Continue  hie  se  coniecit  intro,  ego  consequor ; 

Anus  foribus  obdit  pessulum,  ad  lanam  redit. 

Hie  sciri  potuit  aut  nusquam  alibi,  Clinia, 
280     Quo  studio  uitam  suam  te  absente  exegerit, 

Vbi  de  improuisost  interuentum  mulieri. 

Nam  ea  res  dedit  tum  existumandi  copiam 

Cottidianae  uitae  consuetudinem. 

Quae  quoiusque  ingenium  ut  sit  declarat  maxume. 
285     Texentem  telam  studiose  ipsam  offendimus^ 


292  Anus 

Subtemen  nebat.     praeterea  una  ancillula 


£2 

Era/;  ea  tcxebat  una,  pannis  obsita, 

•  •••••» 

quid  ait,  ubi  me  nominas? 
Sy.     Vbi  dicimus  redisse  te  et  rogare  uti 
305     Veniret  ad  te,  mulier  telam  desinit 

Continue  et  lacrumis  applet  os  totum  sibi. 

In  Ifcatiton  Tiynormnenos  121-46  an  Imperfect  sums  up, 
as  it  were,  and  marks  the  continuance  of  the  activities 
of  a  scene  which  is  portrayed  by  Historical  Presents. 
The  narrative  begins  again  w^ith  the  Perfect  cocfi, 
and  is  given  in  Historical  Presents,  and  a  series  of  Per- 
fects denoting  a  rapid  succession  of  single  actions: 

Vbi  comperi  ex  eis,  qui  fuere  ei  conscii, 

Domum  reuortor  maestus  atque  animo  fere 

Perturbato  atque  incerto  prae  aegritudine. 

Adsido:  adcurrunt  serui,  soccos  detrahunt; 
125      Video  alios  festinare  lectos  sternere, 

Cenam  adparare :  pro  se  quisque  sedulo 

Faciebanty  quo  illam  mihi  lenirent  miseriani. 

Vbi  uideo,  haec  coepi  cogitare  *  hem,  tot  mea 

SoHus  solliciti  sint  causa,  ut  me  unum  expleant? 
130     Ancillae  tot  me  uestiant?  sumptus  domi 

Tantos  ego  solus  faciam?  sed  gnatum  unicum, 

Quern  pariter  uti  his  decuit  aut  etiam  amplius, 

Quod  ilia  aetas  magis  ad  haec  utenda  idoneast, 

Eum  ego  hinc  eieci  miserum  iniustitia  mea ! 
135     Malo  quidem  me  quouis  dignum  deputem, 

Si  id  faciam.     nam  usque  dum  ille  uitam  illam  colet 

Inopem,  carens  patria  ob  meas  iniurias, 

Interea  usque  illi  de  me  supplicium  dabo 

Laborans,  parcens,  quaerens,  illi  seruiens.' 
140     Ita  facio  prorsus:  nil  relinquo  in  aedibus, 

Nee  uas  nee  uestimentum :  conrasi  omnia. 

Ancillas,  seruos,  nisi  eos  qui  opere  rustic© 

Faciundo  facile  sumptum  exercirent  suom, 

Omnis  produxi  ac  uendidi.     inscripsi  ilico 
145     Aedis  mercede.     quasi  talenta  ad  quindecim 

Coegi  :  agrum  hunc  mercattis  sum. 

The  above  passage  is  preceded   (96-117)   by  an  introduc- 
tory narrative  in  Perfects  and  Imperfects. 


53 

In  Miles  Gloriosus  60-66  the  Historical  Presents  are  forms 
of  inquafn  ;  the  Imperfects  are  also  from  verbs  of 
saying  ;  and  so  also  is  one  of  the  two  Perfects  : 

reprehenderunt,  dixcrunt,  rogitabant,  inquit,  inquam,  inquit,  aiebant. 

c.     In  other  passages  it  is  the  idea  of  continuance  in 
the  Imperfect  which  is  most  prominent. 

.4;//«/^r/^  705-11,  where  Perfects  introduce  the  description 
of  a  scene,  an  Imperfect  of  continued  action  follows, 
and  the  description  is  given  by  Historical  Presents, 
and  concluded  by  an  explanatory  Perfect : 

705     Nam  ut  dudum  hinc  abii  multo  illo  adueni  prior 
Multoque  prius  me  conlocaui  in  arborem: 
Indeque  exspectabam  '  aurum  ubi  abstrudebat  senex. 
Vbi  ille  abiit,  ego  me  deorsum  duco  de  arbore : 
Exfodio  aulam  auri  plenam :  inde  exeo  ilico.'* 
710     Video  recipere  se  senem:  ille  me  non  uidet. 
Nam  ego  declinaui  paululum  me  extra  uiam. 

Cf.  Cistellaria  556-85,  where  the  Historical  Presents  are 
chiefly  forms  of  inqiiam. 

Cf.  also  Pseudohis  1270-82,  where  the  only  Imperfect  is 
of  continued  action,  and  explanatory  of  a  Perfect. 
The  description  of  a  scene  is  introduced  by  a  Perfect, 
given  by  Historical  Presents  and  Perfects  (explana- 
tory, negatived,  momentary,  etc.),  and  concluded  by 
Perfects  of  momentary  action  : 

1270     Illos  accubantis  potantis  amantis 

Cum  scortis  rcliqui  et  meum  scortum  ibidem 
Cordi  atque  animo  suo  opsequentis.     sed  postquam  exurrexi 
Orant  med  ut  saltem :  ad  hunc  modum  intuli  ilH  satis  facete : 
Nime^  ex  discipHna:  quippe  ego  qui  probe  lonicam  perdidici. 

1275     Sed  palliolatim  amictus  sic  iticessi  ludibundus. 
Plaudunt  parum  clatnitant  me  ut  reuortar. 

'  Leo,  spectabam. 

^  Leo,  inde  ex  eo  loco 

Video  recipere  se  senem. 
^  Goetz  and  Schoell  mark  as  corrupt;   Leo,  nimis. 


54 


55 


I28o 


Occepi  denuo  hoc  modo:     (nolui 

Idem,  amicae  da  bam  me  meae, 

Vt  me  amaret) .     Vbi  circumuortor,  cado  : 

Id  /«iV  naenia  ludo. 
Itaque  dum  enitor,  prox,  iam  paene  inqttinaui  pallium. 
Nimiae  turn  voluptati  edepol  fui. 
Ob  casum  datur  cantharus :   bibi. 
Commute  ilico  pallium,  illud  posiui  : 
Inde  hue  exii^  crapulam  dum  amouerem. 


d.     In  two  passages  the  Imperfect  denotes  repeated 
action. 

Mcnacchmi  480-84 : 

Ait  hanc  dedisse  me  tibi  atque  eam  meae 
Vxori  surrupuisse,  quoniam  sentio 
Errare,  extemplo,  quasi  res  cum  ea  esset  mihi, 
Coepi  adsentari :   mulier  quicquid  dixerat, 
Idem  ego  dicebam. 

Cf.  Andria  923-35,  where,  however,  the  Imperfects  of 
repetition  (aiebat)  are  out  of  the  direct  line  of  the 
narration. 

In  Ifecyra  367-402  a  scene  is  portrayed  by  Historical 
Presents,  varj^ing  with  Perfects  of  momentary  action 
and  of  ordinary  narration,  and  with  three  Imperfecta 
of  continued  action,  two  of  which  are  explanatory. 
The  description  of  the  scene  is  concluded  by  a  Per- 
fect of  ordinary  narration  :  * 

Postquam  me  aspexere  ancillae  aduenisse,  omnes  ilico 
Laetae  exclaviant  '  uenit  ',  id  quod  me  repente  aspexerant* 
Sed  continue  uoltum  earum  sensi  inmutari  omnium, 
370     Quia  tam  incommode  illis  fors  obtulerat  aduentum  meum. 
Vna  illarum  interea  propere  praecucurrit  nuntians 
Me  uenisse :  ego  eius  uidendi  cupidus  recta  conse^w^r. 
Postquam  intro  adueni,  extemplo  eius  morbum  cognoiii  miser; 

*  In  365  Wagner  follows  Poliziano's  citation  of  the  Bembinus  in  reading, 

Nam  modo  intro  me  corripui  timidus — 

The  other  editors  insert  ut  before  me,  thus  making  ^<jrr//>«/  a  subordinate  verl). 

According  to  Wagner's  reading,  the  description  of  the  scene  portrayed  in  the 

passage  quoted  above  is  introduced  in  this  line  by  a  Perfect  of  momentary  action. 


Nam  neque  ut  celari  posset  tempus  spatium  ullum  dabat, 
375     Neque  uoce  alia  ac  res  monebat  ipsa  poterat  conqueri. 

Postquam  aspexi,  '  o  facinus  indignum '  inquam  et  corripui  ilico 
Me  inde  lacrumans,  incredibili  re  atque  atroci  percitus. 
Mater  consequitur  :  iam  ut  limen  exieram  ad  genua  accidit 
Lacrumans  misera:   miseritumst.     profecto  hoc  sic  est,  ut  puto: 
380     Omnibus  nobis  ut  res  dant  sese,  ita  magni  atque  humiles  sumus. 
Hanc  habere  orationem  mecum  principio  institit  : 
'  O  mi  Pamphile,  abs  te  quam  ob  rem  haec  abierit  causam  uides; 
Nam  uitiumst  oblatum  uirgini  olim  ab  nescio  quo  inprobo. 
Nunc  hue  confugit,  te  atque  alios  partum  ut  celaret  suom.' 
385     Sed  quom  orata  huius  reminiscor,  nequeo  quin  lacrumem  miser. 
'  Quaeque  fors  fortunast '  inquit  '  nobis  quae  te  hodie  obtulit, 
Per  eam  te  obsecramus  ambae,  si  ius,  si  fas  est,  uti 
Aduorsa  eius  per  te  tecta  tacitaque  apud  omnis  sient. 


...  •  •  •  • 

Pollicitus  sum. 

4.  The  Historical  Present  varied  with  the  Pluperfect. 
There  is  only  one  example  of  this  variation. 

Curculio  644-49  • 

Ea  me  spectatum  tulerat  per  Dionysia 
645     *  *  *  »  *  *  «i 

Postquam  illo  uentumst,  iam  ut  me  collocauerat, 
Exoritur  uentus  turbo:     spectacia  ibi  ruont: 
Ego  pertimesco  :  ibi  me  nescioquis  arripit 
Timidam  atque  pauidam,  nee  uiua.m  nee  mortuam, 

where  the  Pluperfect  denotes  an  action  antecedent  to  the 
actions  described  by  the  following  Historical  Presents. 

5.  The  Historical  Present  varied  with    the    Historical 

Perfect  and  the  Pluperfect. 
This  variation  is  of  rare  occurrence. 
Mostellaria  486-92,  where  a  scene  is  described  by  His- 
torical Presents,  varying  with  a  Perfect  of  instanta- 

*  This  lacuna  is  not  indicated  in  the  MSS,  but  Goetz  and  Schoell,  and  Leo 
follow  Fleckeisen  in  assuming  it.  It  is  possible  that  the  passage  originally  con- 
tained other  tenses  in  addition  to  the  above  Pluperfect  and  Historical  Presents. 


56 

neous  action  (condormitiinms — we  fell  asleep),  and 
with  a  Pluperfect  of  an  action  antecedent  to  that  of 
this  Perfect : 

Abi7nus  omnes  cubitum,  condor miuimus. 
Lucernam  forte  oblitus  fuerani  extinguere : 
Atque  ille  exclamat  derepente  maxumum. 


Ait  uenisse  ilium  in  somnis  ad  se  mortuiim. 

In  Eunuchus  629-41  the  only  Pluperfect  is  of  antecedent 
action.  The  Historical  Presents  emphasize  the  main 
events  : 

Dum  rus  eo,  coepi  egomet  mecum  inter  uias, 

630     Ita  ut  fit,  ubi  quid  in  animost  molestiae, 
Aliam  rem  ex  alia  cogitare  et  ea  omnia 
Peiorem  in  partem,     quid  opust  uerbis  ?   dum  haec  puto, 
Praeterii  imprudens  uillam.     longe  iam  abieram^ 
Quom  sensi:  redeo  rursum,  male  uero  me  habens. 

635     Vbi  ad  ipsum  ueni  deuorticulum,  constiti  : 
Occepi  mecum  cogitare  '  hem  biduom  hie 
Manendumst  soli  sine  ilia  ?   quid  tum  postea  ? 
Nil  est.     quid  ?     nil  ?     si  non  tangendi  copiast, 
Eho,  ne  uidendi  quidem  erit  ?     si  illud  non  licet, 

640     Saltern  hoc  licebit.     certe  extrema  linea 

Amare  baud  nil  est.'     uillam  praetereo  sciens. 

In  Rttdcus  956-59  the  only  Pluperfect  (noram)  is  equiva- 
lent to  a  descriptive  Imperfect. 

6.      The   Historical  Present  varied   zulth  the  Historical 

Perfect^  the  Imperfect  and  the  Pluferfect, 

This  variation  is  of  rare  occurrence.  It  will  be  un- 
necessary to  quote  the  passages  in  full,  since  they  furnish 
only  further  illustrations  of  principles  of  variation  that 
have  already  been  emphasized. 

So  in  Rudeiis  37-69 '  the  narrative  begins  with  Perfects. 
The  main  point  is  brought  out  by  an  Historical  Pres- 
ent. Perfects  of  ordinary  narration  follow,  leading 
up  to  the  description  of  a  scene,  which  is  given  by 

*  Leo,  op.  cii.y  pp.  191-92. 


57 

Historical  Presents,  and  concluded  by  a  negatived 
Perfect  of  narration.  A  descriptive  Imperfect 
follows,  introducing  a  character  (erat).'  Then  fol- 
low the  descriptions  of  a  series  of  scenes,  given  by 
Historical  Presents,  which  vary  with  one  Perfect  and  a 
Pluperfect  of  antecedent  action.  The  narrative  ends 
with  Perfects, 

Cf.  Jlfenaechml  17-67.^ 

S/lchus  539-66,  where,  with  the  exxeption  of  one 
dlclty  the  only  Historical  Presents  are  forms  of 
Inqtiam;    and  all  the  Imperfects  are  forms  of  suin, 

Phormlo  S92-99,  where  the  second  of  the  two  Pluperfects 
is  of  instantaneous  action  ("Plusquamperfektum  der 
Schnelligkeit ")  : 

ue7iio  ad  hominem,  ut  dicerera 
Argentum  opus  €sse  et  id  quo  pacto  fieret. 
Vix  dum  dimidium  dixeram,  iniellexerat  : 
595     Gaudebat,  me  laudabat^  quaerebat  senem. 
Dis  giatias  agebaf,  tempus  sibi  dari, 


lussi  opperiri. 


hominem  ad  forum 


*  'i'he  Imperfect  of  the  copula  is  interpreted  throughout  this  dissertation  as 
descriptive  of  the  state  or  condition  of  its  subject.  It  must  be  remarked,  how- 
ever, that  when  the  verb  denotes  primarily  existence,  that  is,  is  not  accompanied 
by  a  predicate  adjective  (as  it  is  in  Casina  907  and  914),  the  idea  of  continuance 
>s  as  prominent  as  that  of  description.  In  such  passages  as  the  above  (49  Ei 
<'rat  hospes  par  sui,  Siculus  senex)  this  is  especially  true.  Cf.  Miies  G/oriosus 
99.  quoted  above,  p.  46. 

•  Leo,  op.  dt.i  pp.  186-7. 


58 


59 


y.      The  Historical  Present  varied  zvith    the   Historical 
Perfect^  the  Imperfect^  and  the  Historical  hifinitive,^ 

In  Ainfliitruo  1091-1124  a  vivid  description  of  the 
birth-scene  of  Hercules  opens  with  two  Historical 
Presents.  Imperfects  of  continued  action  and  of  de- 
scription follow.  Then  come  Perfects  of  ordinary 
narration,  interrupted  by  an  exclamatory  Historical 
Present  with  which  the  narrator  dwells  fondly 
for  a  moment  on  the  fact  of  the  infant  Hercules' 
strength,  before  recollecting  herself  and  proceeding; 
with  the  narrative.  .Then  begins  an  especially  vivid 
description  of  a  particular  part  of  the  scene  in  Histor- 
ical Presents,  varying  with  rapid  Historical  Infinitives. 
The  narrative  closes  with  Perfects  of  ordinary  narra- 
tion : 

Postquam  parturire  hodie  uxor  occepit  tua, 
Vbi  utero  exorti  dolores,  ut  solent  piierperae, 
Inuocat  deos  immortalis,  ut  sibi  auxilium  ferant, 
Manibus  puris,  capife  operto,  ibi  continue  conionat ' 
1095     Sonitu  maximo.     aedes  primo  mere  rebawur  tuas; 
Aedis  totae  confulgebant  tuae,  quasi  assent  aureae. 

•  •  •«•  •  •  •  • 

Dum  haec  agnntur,  interea  uxorem  tuamn 
Neque  gementem  neque  plorantem  nostrum  quisquam  audtuimus: 
1 100     Ita  profecto  sine  dolore  peperit.         .... 


'  In  a  tragic  fragment  there  is  an  example  of  the  Historical  Present  varied 
with  the  Historical  Perfect  and  the  Historical  Infinitive.  See  below,  B,  i,  c.  A 
variation  between  the  Historical  Present  and  the  Historical  Infinitive  was  brought 
about  by  Ritschl  in  Trinummus  835-37  by  reading, 

Ita  iam  quasi  canes  baud  secus  circumstant  nauem  turbine  uenti : 
Imbres  fluctusque  atque  procellae  infensae  fremere  frangere  malum, 
Ruere  antemnas,  scindere  uela, 

where  the  Infinitives  well  express  haste.  But  the  MSS  read  circumstahant^  an«l 
are  followed  by  the  editors,  including  Goetz  and  Schoell  in  their  latest  text.  I" 
their  former  edition  they  read  the  Present  with  Ritschl. 

*  Cf .  with  this  Historical  Present  contonat^  which  denotes  the  continued 
noise  of  the  thunder,  the  Perfect  tomtit y  in  1062  of  the  same  play,  used  of  a 
sudden  crash  of  thunder.     See  above,  p.  47. 


1 105 


IIIO 


1115 


Postquam  peperit,  pueros  lauere  iussit  nos.     occepimus^ 
Sed  puer  ille  quem  ego  laui,  ut  magnust  et  multum  ualeL 
Neque  eum  quisquam  colligate  quiuit  incunabulis. 

postquam  in  cunas  conditust, 
Deuolant  angues  iubati  deorsum  inpluuium  duo 
Maxumi :  continuo  extolltmt  ambo  capita 

sed  apgues  oculis  omnis  circumuisere, 
Postquam  pueros  conspicati,  pergunt  ad  cunas  citi : 
Ego  cunas  recessim  rursum  uorsum  trahere  et  ducere^ 
Metuens  pueris,  mihi  formidans,  tantoque  angues  acrius 
Persequi,     postquam  conspexit  angues  ille  alter  puer, 
Citus  e  cunis  exility  facit  recta  in  anguis  inpetum : 
Alterum  altera  prehendit  eos  manu  perniciter. 


1 1 20 


puer  ambo  anguis  enicat, 
Dum  haec  aguntur,  uoce  clara  exclamat  uxorem  tuam 

Summus  imperator  diuom  atque  hominum  luppiter: 
Is  se  dixit  cum  Alcumena  clam  consuetum  cubitibus, 
Eumque  filium  suom  esse,  qui  illos  angues  uicerit : 
Alterum  tuom  esse  dixit  puerum. 

In  Amfhitruo  203-60  a  vivid  description  of  a  battle  in 
mock  epic  style  is  given  almost  entirely  by  Historical 
Presents.  The  few  Perfects  express  simple  facts,  or 
denote  momentary  actions.  The  only  Imperfect  is 
of  continued  action  and  descriptive,  and  the  two  His- 
torical Infinitives,  while  closely  resembling  the 
Historical  Presents,  serve  also  to  indicate  the  intensity 
of  the  actions  that  they  describe : 

Principio  ut  illo  aduenimus,  ubi  primum  terram  tetigimus, 
Continuo  Amphitruo  delegit  uiros  primorum  principes. 
205     Eos  legat:  Telebois  iubet  sententiam  ut  dicant  suam: 
Si  sine  ui  et  sine  bello  uelint  rapta  et  raptores  tradere. 
Si  quae  asportassent  redderent,  se  exercitum  extemplo  domum 
Reducturum,  abituros  agro  Argiuos,  pacem  atque  otium 
Dare  illis:  sin  aliter  sient  animati  neque  dent  quae  petat, 
Sese  igitur  summa  ui  uirisque  eorum  oppidum  oppugnassere. 
Haec  ubi  Telebois  ordine  iterarunt  quos  praefecerat 
Amphitruo,  magnanimi  uiri  freti  uirtute  et  uiribus 
Superbi  nimis  ferociter  legates  nostros  increpant^ 


210 


6o 


6i 


Respondent  bello  se  et  suos  tutari  posse,  proinde  uti 
2'i5     Properiter  *  de  suis  finibus  exercitus  deducerent. 

Haec  ubi  legati  pertulere,  Amphitruo  castris  ilico 

Producit  omnem  exercitum :  contra  Telelxjae  ex  oppido* 

Legiones  educunt  suas  nimis  pulcris  armis  praeditas. 

Postquam  utrimque  exitumst  maxuma  copia, 
220     Dispertiti  uiri,  dispertiti  ordines: 

Nos  nostras  more  nostro  et  modo  instruximus 

Legiones :  item  hostes  contra  legiones  suas  instruont^ 

Deinde  utrique  imperatores  in  medium  exeunt^ 

Extra  turbam  ordinum  collocuntur  simul. 
225     Conuenit^  uicti  utri  sint  eo  proelio, 

Vrbem,  agrum,  aras,  focos  seque  uti  dederent. 

Postquam  id  actumst,  tubae  utrimque  cantint  contra; 

Consonat  terra :  clamorem  utrimque  efferunt, 

Imperator  utrimque  hinc  et  illinc  lovi 
230     Vota  suscipere^  hortari  exercitum. 

Pro  se  quisque  id  quod  quisque  et  potest  et  valet 

Edity  \t.xxo  ferit:  \q\2>.  frangunt:  boat 

Caelum  fremitu  uirum :  ex  spiritu  atque  anhelitu 

Nebula  constat :  cadunt  uolneris  ui  et  uirum. 
235     Deniqne  ut  uoluimus,  nostra  superat  manus : 

Hostes  crebri  cadunt :  nostri  contra  ingruont. 
Vicimus  *  ui  feroces. 

Sed  fugam  in  se  tamen  nemo  conuortitur 

Nee  recedit  loco  quin  statim  rem  gerat : 
240     Animam  omittunt  prius  quam  loco  demigrent ; 

Quisque  ut  steterat,  iacet  optinetqae  ordinem. 

Hoc  ubi  Amphitruo  erus  conspicatus  est, 
Ilico  equites  iudet  dextera  inducere. 
Equites /^;v«/  citi,  ab  dextera  maxumo 
245         Cum  clamore  inuo/ant,  impetu  alacri : 
Foedant  et  proterunt  hostinm  copias 
lure  inustas. 

•  ••••••• 

250     Pcrduelles  penetrant  se  in  fugam :   ibi  nostris  animus  additust. 
Vortentibus  Telebois  telis  complcbantHr  corpora, 
Ipsusque  Amphitruo  regem  Pterelam  sua  obtruncauit  manu. 
Haec  illic  est  pugnata  pugna  usque  a  mani  ad  uesperum : 
Hoc  adeo  hoc  commemini  magis,  quia  illo  die  impransus  fui. 

255     Sed  proelium  id  tandem  diremit  nox  internentu  suo. 

*  Leo,  propere  irent. 

^  Leo  would  omit  uicimus^  after  Spengel. 


Postridie  in  castra  ex  urbe  ad  nos  ueniitnt  flentes  principes, 
Velatis  manibus  orant^  ignoscamus  peccatum  suom : 
Dedunt(\\vi  se,  diuina  humanaque  omnia,  urbem  et  liberos 
In  dicionem  atque  in  arbitratum  cuncti  Thebano  poplo. 
260     Post  ob  uirtutem  ero  Amphitruoni  patera  donata  aurea^/. 

Note  especially  lines  221-22,  where  the  Historical 
Present  gives  a  picture  of  the  drawing  up  of  the  enemy's 
forces,  over  against  the  simple  statement  of  fact  in  regard 
to  the  speaker's  ow^n  forces,  conveyed  by  the  Perfect.  It 
is  possible  that  the  picture  presents  itself  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  Perfect  itself,  /.  ^.,  'Ve  drew  up  our  forces 
and  watched  the  enemy  draw  up  theirs."  However,  in  a 
passage  of  this  kind  due  allowance  must  be  made  for  pos- 
sible metrical  considerations. 

In  Bacchides  259-306  the  one  Historical  Infinitive  seems 
to  denote  haste : 

Vbi  portu  eximus,  homines  remigio  scqiti^ 
290     Neque  aues  neque  uenti  citius. 

In  Mercator  42-106  after  an  introductory  Perfect  and 
Imperfects  of  repetition,  a  series  of  Historical  Infini- 
tives gives  a  hurried  and  vehement  description  of  a 
father's  anger  toward  his  son.  After  an  interval  a 
reconciliation  scene  between  father  and  son  is  por- 
trayed by  Historical  Presents.  A  negatived  Perfect 
of  narration  follows,  introducing  the  description 
in  Historical  Presents  of  the  lading  of  a  vessel, 
the  departure  of  the  son,  his  arrival  at  his  des- 
tination and  the  success  of  his  enterprise.  Then 
follows,  after  an  introductory  Perfect  of  instan- 
taneous action,  the  description  in  Historical  Presents, 
varying  with  an  explanatory  Perfect,  of  his  inter- 
view with  a  friend,  and  his  visit  at  the  friend's 
house.  A  subsequent  interview  is  also  portrayed 
by  Historical  Presents,  and  the  narrative  then 
closes  with  two  Perfects  of  ordinary  narration : 


:  Sf 


62 


45 


SO 


Amare  ualide  coepi  hie  meretricem.     ilico 

Res  exulatum  ad  illam  clam  adt&a/  patris : 

Leno  inportunus,  dominus  eius  mulieris, 

Vi  sumnia  quicque  ut  poterat  rapiebat  domum. 

Obiurigare  pater  haec  noctes  et  dies : 

Perfidiam,  iniustitiam  lenonum  exprotnere  : 

Lacerari  ualide  suam  rem,  illius  augerier. 

Summo  haec  clamore :  interdum  mussans  conloqui^ 

Abnuerey  negitare  adeo  me  natum  suom. 

Conclamitare  tota  urbe  et  praedicere^ 


« 


80 


90 


95 


Ego  me  ubi  inuisum  meo  patri  esse  intellego 
Atque  odio  me  esse  quoi  placere  aequom  fuit, 
Amens  amansque  ut  animum  offirmo  meum : 
Dico  esse  iturum  me  mercatum,  si  uelit, 
Amorem  missum  facere  me,  dum  illi  obsequar. 
^5     ^S^f  gratias  mihi  atque  ingenium  adlaudat  meum, 
Et  mea  promissa  non  neglexit  persequi. 
Aedificat  nauem  cercyrum  et  mercis  emit  : 
Parata  naui  imponit:  praeterea  mihi 
Talentum  argenti  ipse  sua  adnuinerat  manu : 
Seruum  una  mittit^  qui  olim  puero  paruolo 
Mihi  paedagogus  fuerat,  quasi  ut  mihi  foret 
Gustos,     his  sic  confectis  nauem  soluimus. 
Rhodum  uenimus  ubi  quas  merces  uexeram 
Omnis  ut  uolui  uendidi  ex  sententia : 
Lucrum  ingens  facto  praeterquam  mihi  meus  pater 
Dedit  aestimatas  merces.     ita  peculium 
Conficio  grande.     sed  dum  in  portu  illi  ambulo, 
Hospes  me  quidam  adgnouit^  ad  cenam  uocat. 
Venioy  decumbo^  acceptus  hilare  atque  ampliter. 
Discubitum  noctu  ut  imus,  ecce  ad  me  aduenit 
Mulier,  qua  mulier  alia  nullast  pulcrior : 
Ea  nocte  mecum  ilia  hospitis  iussu  fuit, 
Vosmet  uidete,  quam  mihi  ualde  placuerit : 
Postridie  hospitem  adeo^  oro  ut  uendat  mihi : 
105     Dico  eius  pro  meritus  gratum  me  et  munem  fore. 
Quid  uerbis  opus  est  ?     emi  atque  aduexi  heri. 

Cf.  Mercator  228-63. 

Cf.     also     Eunuchus      617-27,    where    the    number    of 
Historical  Infinitives  is  unusually  large. 


100 


^Z 


In  Eunuchus  397-433  the  Historical  Infinitives  are  of  re- 
peated actions.  The  only  Historical  Presents  are 
forms  of  tnquam,  and  occur  in  the  description  of 
typical  scenes  that  are  portrayed  in  order  to  illus- 
trate the  general  narrative : 

Th.     Vel  rex  semper  maxumas 

Mihi  agebat  quidquid  feceram:  aliis  non  item. 

Gn.     Lahore  alieno  magno  partam  gloriam 
400     Verbis  saepe  in  se  transmouet,  qui  hal:)et  salem; 

Quod  in  te  est.   Th.  Habes.   Gn.  Rex  te  ergo  in  oculis  Th.  Scilicet. 

Gn.     Gestare.     Th.     Vero:  fr^r^^fr^  omnem  exercitum, 

Consilia.     Gn.     Mirum.     Th.     Tum  sicubi  eum  satietas 

Hominum  aut  negoti  siquando  odium  ceperat, 
405     Requiescere  ubi  uolebat,  quasi     .     .     nostin  ?     Gn.    Scio : 

Quasi  ubi  illam  exspueret  miseriam  ex  animo,     Th.     Tenes. 

Tum  me  conuiuam  solum  abducebat  sibi.     Gn.     Hui, 

Regem  elegantem  narras.     Th.     Immo  sic  homost : 

Perpaucorum  hominum.     Gn.     Immo  nullorum,  arbitror, 
410     Si  tecum  uiuit.     Th.     Inuidere  omnes  mihi, 

Mordere  clanculum :  ego  non  flocci  pendere  : 

Illi  inuidere  misere;  uerum  unus  tamen 

Inpense,  elephantis  quern  Indicis  praefecerat. 

Is  ubi  molestus  magis  est,  *  quaeso '  inquam  *  Strato, 
415     Eon  es  ferox,  quia  habes  imperium  in  beluas  ? ' 

Gn.     Pulchre  mehercle  dictum  et  sapienter.     papae, 

lugularas  hominem.     quid  ille  ?    Th.     Mutus  ilico. 

Gn.     Quid  ni  esset  ?     Pa.     Di  uostram  fid-m,  hominem  perditum 

Miserumque  et  ilium  sacrilegum  !     Th.     Quid  illud,  Gnatho, 
420    Quo  pacto  Rhodium  tetigerim  in  conuiuio, 

Numquam  tibi  dixi  ?     Gn.     Numquam;     sed  narra  obsecro. 

Plus  miliens  audiui.     Th.     Vna  in  conuiuio 

Erat  hie,  quem  dico,  Rhodius  adulescentulus. 

Forte  habui  scortum :  coepit  ad  id  adludere 
425     Et  me  inridere.     *  quid  ais  '  inquam  homini  *  inpudens  ? 

Lepus  tute  es,  pulpamentum  quaeris  ? '     Gn.     hahahahae. 

Th.     Quid  est  ?    Gn.     Facete,  lepide,  laute,  nil  supra. 

Tuomne,  obsecro  te,  hoc  dictum  erat  ?    uetus  credidi. 

Th.     Audieras  ?    Gn.     Saepe,  et  fertur  in  primis.     Th.      Meumst. 
430    Gn.     Dolet  dictum  inprudenti  adulescenti  et  libero. 

Pa.    At  te  di  perdant !    Gn.    Quid  ille  quaeso  ?    Th.     Perditus: 

Risu  omnes  qui  aderant  emoriri,     denique 

Metuebant  omnes  iam  me. 


64 

Andrta  51-148  is  an  excellent  passage  in  which  to  study 
the  variation  of  tenses.  It  contains  20  Historical 
Presents,  13  Historical  Perfects,  18  Imperfects  and  7 
Historical  Infinitives.  After  a  subordinate  clause, 
which  sets  the  time,  the  narrative  begins  with  a 
description  in  Imperfects  and  Historical  Infinitives  of 
the  hero's  manner  of  life.  Another  speaker  throws 
in  a  comment  with  a  Perfect  of  ordinary  narration. 
Then  a  new  character  is  introduced  into  the  narrative 
by  a  Perfect,  and  her  habits  are  described  by  an  Im- 
perfect. A  Perfect  of  momentary  action  follows,  and 
then  an  Historical  Present,  to  mark  an  important  fact. 
The  hero's  introduction  to  the  new  character  is  told 
by  a  Perfect.  A  succession  of  repeated  actions  is 
expressed  by  Imperfects  (in  their  midst  occurs  also 
an  explanatory  descriptive  Imperfect,  crat)  and  also 
by  Historical  Infinitives.  A  quick  succession  of 
explanatory  Perfects  follows.  Then  a  new  and 
important  event  is  marked  by  an  Historical  Present. 
This  is  followed  by  Imperfects  of  continued  action,  a 
Perfect  of  momentary  action,  and,  again.  Imperfects 
of  continued  action.  A  funeral  scene  is  then  depicted 
by  Historical  Presents,  varying  with  Perfects  of 
momentary  action.  Another  scene  is  then  described 
by  Historical  Presents,  varying  with  a  vehement  His- 
torical Infinitive.  Note  that  the  description  concludes 
with  an  Historical  Present,  instead  of  the  more 
common  Perfect : 

Si.     Nam  is  postquam  excessit  ex  ephebis  [Sosia,  et 
Liberius  uiuendi  fuit  potestas*  ],  (nam  antea 
Qui  scire  posses  aut  ingenium  noscere, 

*  Wagner  reads  as  follows : 

Nam  is  postquam  excessit  ex  ephebis,  Sosia, 
Librius  uiuendi  ftiit  postestas — nam  antea, 

thus  bringing  about  an  introduction  of  the  following  narrative  by  the  I*erfect. 


65 


Dum  aetas  mstus  magister  prohibebant  ?     So.     Itast.) 
55     Si.     Quod  plerique  omnes  faciunt  adulescentuli, 

Vt  animum  ad  aliquod  studium  adiungant,  aut  equos 

Alere  aut  canes  ad  uenandum,  aut  ad  philosophos, 

Ilorum  ille  nil  cgregie  praeter  cetera 

Studebat^  et  tamen  omnia  haec  mediocriter. 
60     Gaudcbam.     So.     Non  iniuria;   nam  id  arbitror 

Adprime  in  uita  esse  utile,  ut  ne  quid  nimis. 

Si.     Sic  vita  erat:  facile  omnes  perferre  ac  pati ; 

Cum  quibus  erat  quomque  una,  eis  sese  dedere; 

Eorum  studiis  ohsequi  [aduersus  nemini, 
65     Numquam  praeponens  se  illis]  :   ita  ut  facillume 

Sine  inuidia  laudem  inuenias  et  amicos  pares. 

So.     Sapienter  uitam  iiisiittiit ;  namque  hoc  tempore 

Obsequium  amicos,  ueritas  odium  parit. 

Si.     Interea  mulier  quaedam  abhinc  triennium 
70     Ex  Andro  commigrnuit  hue  uiciniam, 

Inopia  et  cognatorum  necligentia 

Coacta,  egregia  forma  atque  aetate  integra. 

So.     Ei,  uereor  nequid  Andria  adportet  maH  ! 

Si.     Primo  haec  pudice  uitam,  parce  ac  duriter 
75     ylgchat^  lana  ac  tela  uictum  quaeritans; 

Sed  postquam  amans  accessit  pretium  pollicens 

\'nus  et  item  alter,  ita  ut  ingeniumst  omnium 

I  lominum  ab  labore  procliue  ad  lubidinem, 

Acctpit  condicionem,  dein  quaestum  occipit. 
So     Qui  turn  illam  amabant,  forte,  ita  ut  fit,  filium 

Pcrdiixere  illuc,  secum  ut  una  esset,  meum. 

Egomet  continuo  mecum  '  certe  captus  est : 

Ilabet.'     obseruabam  mane  illorum  seruolos 

Venientis  aut  abeuntis :  rogitabatn  *  heus  puer, 
85     Die  sodes,  quis  heri  Chrysidem  habuit  ? '  nam  Andriae 

Illi  id  erat  nomen.     So.     Teneo.     Si.     Phaedrum  aut  Cliniam 

Diccbant  aut  Nicaretum;    nam  hi  tres  turn  simul 

Amabant.     *  eho,  quid  Pamphilus  ?  '   *  quid  ?  symbolam 

Dedit,  cenauit.'     gaudebam,     item  alio  die 
90     Quaej'cbam  :  coniperiebam  nil  ad  Pamphilum 

Quicquam  attinere.     enim  uero  spectatum  satis 

Putabam  et  magnum  exemplum  continentiae; 

Nam  qui  cum  ingeniis  conflictatur  eius  modi 

Neque  commouetur  animus  in  ea  re  tamen, 
95     Scias  posse  habere  iam  ipsum  suae  uitae  modum. 

Quom  id  mihi  placebat,  tum  uno  ore  omnes  omnia 

Bona  dicere  et  laudare  fortunas  meas, 

Qui  gnatum  haberem  tali  ingenio  praeditum. 


66 


Quid  uerbis  opus  est  ?     hac  fama  inpulsus  Chrcmejj 
ICO     Vitro  ad  me  uenit,  unicam  gnatam  suam 

Cum  dote  summa  filio  uxorem  ut  daret. 

Placuit:  despondi.     hie  nuptiis  dictust  dies. 

So.     Quid  igitur  obstat,  quor  non  fiant  ?     Si.     Audies. 

Fere  in  diebus  paucis,  quibus  haec  acta  sunt, 
105     Chrysis  uicina  haec ///iJr/Vw;'.     So.     O  factum  bene ! 

Beasti:   [ei]  metui  a  Chryside.     Si.     Ibi  tum  filius 

Cum  illis,  qui  amarant  Chrysidem,  una  aderat  frequensj 

Curabat  una  funus;   tristis  interim, 

Non  numquam  conlacriunahat.    placuit  tum  id  niihi. 
1 10     Sic  r^'^//^/^*^//?/  '  hie  paruae  Gonsuetudinis 

Causa  huius  mortem  tam  fert  familiariter : 

Quid  si  ipse  amasset  ?     quid  hie  mihi  faciet  patri  ? ' 

Haec  ego  putabavi  esse  omnia  humani  ingeni 

Mansuetique  animi  officia.     quid  multis  moror  ? 
1 1 5     Egomet  quoque  eius  causa  in  funus  prodeo. 

Nil  etiam  suspicans  mali.     So.     Hem,  quid  id  est?     Si.     Scies. 

Ecfertur ;     imus.     interea  inter  mulieres, 

Quae  ibi  aderant,  forte  unam  aspicio  adulescentulam, 

Forma     So.     Bona  fortasse.     Si.     Et  uoltu,  Sosia, 
120     Adeo  modesto,  adeo  uenusto,  ut  nil  supra. 

Quia  tum  mihi  lamentari  praeter  ceteras 

Visast,  et  quia  erat  forma  praeter  ceteras 

Honesta  ac  liberali,  accedo  ad  pedisequas, 

Quae  sit  rogo:     sororem  esse  aiunt  Chrysidis, 
125     Per  cuss  i I  ilico  animum.     attat  hoc  illud  est, 

Hinc  illae  lacrumae,  haec  illast  misericordia. 

So.     Quam  timeo,  quorsum  euadas!     Si.     Funus  interim 

Procedit;     sequimur  ;  ad  sepulcrum  «<'«//;/ //i,* 

In  ignem  inpositast ;  fletur.     interea  haec  soror, 
130    Quam  dixi,  ad  flammam  rt-r^^jj// inprudentius. 

Satis  cum  periclo.     ibi  tum  exanimatus  Pamphilus 

Bene  dissimulatum  amorem  et  celatum  indicat : 

Adcurrit;  mediam  mulierem  compUctitur  : 

'  Mea  Glycerium,'  iuquit  *quid  agis  ?   quor  te  is  perditum  ?  ' 
135     Tum  ilia,  ut  consuetum  facile  amorem  cerneres, 

Reiecit  se  in  eum  flens  quam  familiariter !  * 

*  The  variation  of  Historical  Presents  and  Perfects  in  128-136  of  the  funeral 
scene  well  illustrates  principles  of  variation  that  have  been  emphasized.  The 
picture  of  the  funeral  procession  is  brought  before  the  eyes  by  Historical  Presents. 
The  arrival  and  the  placing  of  the  body  on  the  pyre  are  narrated  by  Perfects,  as 
necessary  but  unimportant  details,  hurried  over,  as  it  were,  in  order  to  get  to  the 
main  point.     The  mourning  that  meantime  is  going  on  is  depicted  by  an  Historical 


67 


So.     Quid  ais  ?     Si.     Redeo  inde  iratus  atque  aegre  ferens; 


Nee  satis  ad  obiurgandum  causae. 


Venit  Chremes  postridie  ad  me  clamitans: 
145     Indignum  f acinus;   comperisse,  Pamphilum 

I'ro  uxore  habere  banc  peregrinam.     ego  illud  sedulo 
Alegar c  factum,     ille  instat  factum,     denique 
Ita  tum  discedo  ab  illo,  ut  qui  se  filiam 
Neget  daturum. 

Ci.  also  Eiinuchus  512-29.' 

8.  The  Ilistoi-ical  Present  varied  with  the  Ilistorieal 
Pe7'fect^  the  Iniperjeet,  the  Plziferfect^  and  the 
Historical  Infinitive, 

Phormio  71-135  is  a  v^ery  good  narrative  passage. 
The  narrative  begins  with  an  Historical  Present  of  an 
important  fact,  and  continues  in  Perfects  of  ordinary 
narration,  Imperfects  of  description  and  of  continued 
action,  and  a  Pluperfect  of  antecedent  action.  In  91- 
103  a  scene  is  described  by  Historical  Presents  and 
one  Historical  Infinitive.  In  103-110  the  description 
of  another  scene  is  introduced  by  a  Perfect,  marking 
an  event  closely  connected  with  the  concluding  event 
of  the  previous  scene,  and  given  by  Historical  Presents, 
varying  with  a  descriptive  Imperfect.      A    remark    is 

1 'resent.  The  approach  of  the  girl  too  near  the  flames  is  narrated  by  a  Perfect, 
as  an  instantaneous  action,  or,  perhaps,  an  action  suddenly  observed  by  the  spec- 
tator. Her  rescue  by  the  hero  is  vividly  described  by  Historical  Presents,  and 
then  the  impulsiveness  with  which  she  throws  herself  into  his  arms  is  well  indicated 
Ity  a  Perfect  of  instantaneous  action. 

*  Grysar,  op.  cit.y  quotes  the  Historical  Infinitives  in  this  passage  as  denoting 
repeated  action,  but  they  are,  rather,  descriptive  of  particular  events  enacted  at  a 
particular  time : 

Vbi  ueni,  causam,  ut  ibi  manerem,  reppcrit : 
Ait  rem  diuinam  fecisse  et  rem  seriam 
Velle  agere  mecum.     iam  tum  erat  suspicio 
515     Dolo  malo  haec  fieri  omnia.     v^'s>2i  adcumbere 
Mecum,  mihi  sese  dare^  sermonem  quaerere. 


68 

thrown  in  by  another  speaker  with  the  Perfect  cocfit. 
Then  in  112-116  still  another  scene  is  described  bv 
Historical  Presents,  and  an  Historical  Infinitive  and 
descriptive  Imperfects  follow.  Another  speaker  asks 
a  question  in  an  Historical  Present  and  follows  it  with 
a  similar  question  in  a  Perfect.  The  answer  is  given 
by  a  Perfect  of  ordinary  narration.  The  narrative 
concludes  with  a  series  of  Perfects,  denoting  a  rnpid 
succession  of  single  events,  and  with  an  Historical 
Present  of  a  more  continued  state  : 

Ge.     Abeuntes  ambo  hinc  turn  senes  me  filiis 

Relinquont  quasi  magistrum.     Da.     O  Geta,  prouinciam 

Cepisti  duram.     Ge.     Mi  usus  uenit,  hoc  scio: 

Memini  relinqui  me  deo  iralo  meo. 
75     Coepi  aduorsari  primo :  quid  uerbis  opust  ? 

Seni  fidelis  dum  sum,  scapulas  perdidi. 

Venere  in  mentem  mi  istaec :  namque  inscitiast, 

Aduorsum  stimulum  calces.      Coepi  eis  omnia 

Facere,  obsequi  quae  uellent.     Da.     Scisti  uti  foro. 
80    Ge.     Noster  mali  nil  quicquam  primo;   hie  Phaedria 

Continuo  quandam  nactus  est  puellulam 

Citharistriam,  banc  amare  coepit  perdite. 

Ea  seriiiebat  lenoni  inpurissumo, 

Neque  quod  daretur  quicquam;   id  ciirarant  patres. 
%>,     Rcstabai  aliud  nil  nisi  oculos  pascere, 

Sectari,  in  ludum  ducere  et  redducere. 

Nos  otiosi  operam  dabamus  Phaedriae. 

In  quo  haec  discebat  ludo,  exaduorsum  ilico 

Tonstrina  erat  quaedam :   hie  solcbamus  fere 
90     Plerumque  earn  opperiri,  dum  inde  iret  domum. 

Interea  dum  sedemus  illi,  interuenit 

Adulescens  quidam  lacrumans.     nos  mirarier ; 

R  ogam  us  quid  sit.     *  numquam  aeque '  imjuit  •  ac  niodo 

Paupertas  mihi  onus  uisumst  et  miserum  et  graue. 
95     Modo  quandam  uidi  uirginem  hie  uiciniae 

Miseram  suam  matrem  lamentari  mortuam. 

Ea  sita  erat  exaduorsum,  neque  illi  beniuolus 

Neque  notus  neque  cognatus  extra  unam  aniculam 

Quisquam  aderat,  qui  adiutaret  funus:  miseritumst. 
100     Virgo  ipsa  facie  egregia.'     quid  uerbis  opust  ? 

Commorat  omnis  nos.     ibi  continuo  Antipho 

*  Voltisne  eamus  uisere  ?  '  alius  •  censeo : 


69 

Eamus:   due  nos  sodes.'     itnuSy  uenimuSy 
Vide /n us.  uirgo  pulchra,  et  quo  magis  diceres, 
105     '^W  aderat  adiumenti  ad  pulchritudinem : 

Capillus  passus,  nudus  pes,  ipsa  horrida, 

Lacrumae,  uestitus  turpis:  ut,  ni  uis  boni 

In  ipsa  inesset  forma,  haec  formam  extinguerent. 

lUe  qui  illam  amabat  fidicinam,  tantum  modo 
no     'Satis'  inquit  'scitast';   noster  uero...     Da.     lam  scio: 

Amare  coepit.     Ge.     Scin  quam  ?     quo  euadat  uide. 

Postridie  ad  anum  recta  pergit:  obsecrat, 

Vt  sibi  eius  faciat  copiam.     ilia  enim  se  negat 

Neque  eum  aequom  ait  facere :   illam  ciuem  esse  Atticam, 
115     Bonam  bonis  prognatam :   si  uxorem  uelit, 

Lege  id  licere  facere;   sin  aliter,  negat. 

Noster  quid  ageret  nescire  :  et  illam  ducere 

Cupiebat  et  metucbat  absentem  patrem. 

Da.     Non,  si  redisset,  ei  pater  ueniam  daret  ? 
120     Ge.     Ille  indotatam  uirginem  atque  ignobilem 

Daret  illi  ?     numquam  faceret.     Da.     Quid  y?/  denique  ? 

Ge.     Quid  fiat  ?     est  parasitus  quidam  Phormio, 

Homo  confidens:  qui  ilium  di  omnes  perduint. 

Da.     Quidisy^aV/'    Ge.     Hoc  consilium  quod  dicam  r/<f<///.- 
125     •  Lex  est  ut  orbae,  qui  sunt  genere  proxumi, 

Eis  nubant,  et  illos  ducere  eadem  haec  lex  iubet. 

Ego  te  cognatum  dicam  et  tibi  scribam  dicam; 

Paternum  amicum  me  adsimulabo  uirginis : 

Ad  iudices  ueniemus :     qui  fuerit  pater, 
130     Quae  mater,  qui  cognata  tibi  sit,  omnia  haec 

Confingam:  quod  erit  mihi  bonum  atque  commodum, 

Quom  tu  horum  nil  refelles,  uincam  scilicet. 

Pater  aderit :     mihi  paratae  lites :  quid  mea  ? 

Ilia  quidem  nostra  erit.'     Da.     locularem  audaciam. 
135     Ge.     Persuasumst  homini:  facttimst:  ucntumst:  uincimur. 

In  Hecyra  114-191  the  variation  of  tenses  follows 
similar  principles.  The  narrative  contains  Historical 
Presents  of  vivid  portrayal  and  of  important  facts ;  Per- 
fects of  ordinary  narration ;  Imperfects  of  continued  and 
of  repeated  action ; '  a  Pluperfect  of  antecedent  action ; 
and  Historical  Infinitives  of  repeated  and  of  intense 
action. 

*  In    172   from  the  redibat  and   rediebat  (read  by  Dziatzko)  of   the  MSS 
Kleckeisen  conjectures  redierat.     He  is  followed  by  Wagner. 


70 

In  concluding  the  examination  of  the  Historical 
Present  in  colloquial  literature  its  use  in  Varro  deserves 
attention.  His  de  re  rustica  is  cast  in  the  form  of  dia- 
logues. The  activities  of  the  speakers  in  these  dialogr.ts 
are  described  throughout  by  Historical  Presents,  with 
only  occasional  Historical  Perfects.  Thus,  forms  of 
inquam  occur  79  times,  and  other  verbs,  such  as  aio, 
stiscipio^  subicioy  adicio,  aspicio,  redeo^  surgo^  etc.,  r.ot 
infrequently.  The  general  effect  is  to  represent  the 
scenes  of  the  conversations  vividly,  as  if  they  were  gointr 
on  before  the  eyes,  but  the  use  of  inquam  is  chiefly 
phraseological. 

B. 

I.  The  remains  of  early  tragic  poetry  show  the  follovvin(j 
variations  : 

«.      The  Historical  Present    varied  zuith  the  Historical 

Perfect, 

Attius  636-39,  where  the  Historical  Present  seems  to  begin 
the  description  of  some  scene,  while  the  immediate 
relation  between  it  and  the  Perfect  is  that  of  effect 
and  cause  respectively.  Note  also  the  momentary 
character  of  the  Perfect : 

Tereus  indomito  more  atque  animo  barbaro 
Conspexit  earn :  hinc  amore  uecors  flammeo, 
Depositus  facinus  pessimum  ex  dementia 
Confingit, 

b.      The  Historical  Present   varied   zuith  the  Historical 

Perfect    and  the   Imperfect. 
Incert,  (Ennius?),    Incert.  5-14:' 

.     mater  grauida  parere  se  ardentem  facem 
Visa  est  in  somnis  Hecuba:  quo  fato  pater 

^  Ribbeck  suggests  that  the  above  fragment  probably  belongs  to  the  prologue 
of  the  tragedy  Alexander^  by  Ennius.  He  is  followed  by  Vahlen  and  by  L. 
Mueller. 


71 

Rex  ipse  Priamus  somnio,  mentis  metu 
Perculsus,  curis  sumptus  suspirantibus, 
5     Ecsacrificabat  hostiis  balantibus. 

Turn  coniecturam  postulat  pacem  petens, 
Vt  se  edoceret  obsecrans  Apollinem, 
Quo  sese  uertant  tantae  sortes  somnium. 
Ibi  ex  oraclo  uoce  diuina  edidit 
10     Apollo. 

Here  the  first  Perfect  gives  the  cause  for  the  consul- 
tation of  the  oracle,  the  scene  of  which  event  is 
portrayed  by  the  following  Imperfect,  denoting  the 
continued  process  of  the  preliminary  act  of  sacrifice ; 
Historical  Present,  giving  the  main  fact  of  the  con- 
sultation ;  and  Perfect,  stating  in  simple  narration  the 
fact  that  the  oracle  answered. 

{'.     The  Historical  Present   varied   with  the  Historical 
Perfect   and  the   Historical  Infinitive, 

Attius  437-8,  where  a  series  of  Perfects  denotes  a  rapid 
succession  of  single  actions ;  an  Historical  Present 
brings  vividly  before  the  eyes  a  resulting  action ; 
and  an  Historical  Infinitive  well  expresses  haste : 

Constitit  copiouit  sensit^  conlocat  sese  in  locum 

Celsum :  hinc  manibus  rapere  raudus  saxeum  grande  et  graue. 

2.  The  remains  of  early  epic  poetry  show  the  following 
variations : 

a.      The   Historical  Present  varied  -with  the  Historical 

Perfect. 

Livius  Andronicus,  Odysseia  28-30,  where  the  Perfect 
introduces  the  description  of  a  scene  which  is  por- 
trayed by  Historical  Presents : 

Topper  citi  ad  auris  uenimus  Circae; 
Simul  aduenit^  seruae  porta nt  ad  nauis 
Edulia  alma,  ulna  isdem  inferinuntur . 


72 


73 


Ennius,  Annates  52,  where  the  Historical  Present  ex- 
presses the  effect  of  the  cause  denoted  b}-  the  narra- 
tive Perfect  and  seems  to  begin  or  to  form  a  part  of 
the  description  of  some  scene  : 

Haec  ecfatus;  ibique  latrones  dicta  facessttnt. 

In  Annates  348-51  the  Perfect  follows  and  is  explan- 
atory. 

In  Annates  464  the  Historical  Present  again  forms  a  part 
of  the  description  of  some  scene,  but  the  followiii'r 
Perfect  expresses  the  resulting  action  and  its  instan- 
taneous character: 

Concidit;  et  sonitum  simul  insuper  arma  dcdere. 

h.      The  Historicat  P?'esent  varied  with  the   hnferfcct, 
Naevius,    Betttwi    Punicum   4-5,    where    the    Historical 
Present  describes  a  scene,  and  the  Imperfect  the  con- 
tinued process  of  an  act  of  sacrifice : 

Sacra  in  mensa  Penatium  ordine  pommtur. 
Turn  victiniam  imuiolabat  aurcam  pulchram. 

Ennius,  Annates  188-92,  where  the  Imperfect  denotes  the 
continuance  of  one  activity  which  accompanies  the 
progress  of  the  other  activities  that  make  up  the  scene 
and  are  described  by  Historical  Presents  : 

Incedunt  arbusta  per  alta,  securibu'  caedunt^ 
Percellunt  magnas  quercus,  exciditur  ilex, 
190     Fraxinu  '  frangitur  atque  abies  constcrnitur  alta, 
Pinus  proceras  pervortunt .     omne  sonabat 
Arbustum  fremitu  silvai  frondosai. 

Cf.  Annates  450-57,  a  passage  which  is  very  similar  to  the 
preceding  passage,  but  in  which  the  Imperfect  denotes, 
rather,  the  continuance  of  effort : 

450     Undique  conveniu7it  velut  imber  tela  tribune, 

Conjigunt  parmam,  tinnit  hastilibus  umbo, 

Aerato  sonilu  galeae,     sed  nee  pote  quisquam 

Undique  nitendo  corpus  discerpere  ferro. 

Semper  adundantes  hastas  frafigit(\\xQ  (juafi/qxie. 
455     Totum  sudor  /ladei  corpus  multumque  laborat^ 


Nee  respirandi  Jit  copia :  praepete  ferro 
Histri  tela  manu  iacientes  sollicitabant. 

c.      The  Historicat  Present  varied  with   the   Historical 

Perfect y  and  the  Imperfect, 

Ennius,  Annates  32-44,  where  a  Perfect  introduces  the 
description  of  a  scene ;  Imperfects  of  description  and 
of  continued  action  follow;  an  Historical  Present 
gives  the  main  event  of  the  scene;  and  Perfects  of 
instantaneous  action  conclude  the  description  : 

Nam  me  visus  homo  pulcher  per  amoena  salicta 

Et  ripas  raptare  locosque  novos.     ita  sola 

Postilla,  germana  soror,  errare  videbar 
35     Tardaque  vestigare  et  quaerere  te  neque  posse 

Corde  capessere :  semita  nulla  pedem  stabilibat. 

Exim  compellare  pater  me  voce  videtur 

His  verbis:   "  o  gnata,  tibi  sunt  ante  ferendae 

Aerumnae,  post  ex  fluvio  fortuna  resistet." 
40     Haec  ecfatu'  pater,  germana,  repente  recessit 

Nee  sese  dedit  in  eonspectum  eorde  eupitus, 

Quamquam  multa  manus  ad  caeli  caerula  templa 

Tendebam  lacrumans  et  blanda  voce  vocabam. 

Vix  aegro  cum  corde  meo  me  somnu'  reliquit. 

Note    especially    (32,  34,  37)    the    variation    in    the 
lenses  of  the  same  verb. 

Annates  73-93,  where,  in  the  description  of  a  scene,  the 
Imperfects  denote  the  continuance  of  effort,  and  there 
seems  to  be  no  especial  reason  for  the  variation  of 
the  Historical  Presents  and  the  Perfects : 

Curantes  magna  cum  cura  tum  cupientes 

Regni  dant  operam  simul  auspicio  augurioque. 
75     Interea  sol  albu'  recessit  in  infera  noctis. 

Hinc  in  monte  Remus        ♦        #        ♦        * 

•         ♦         auspicio  se  devovet  atque  secundam 

Solus  avem  servat.     at  Romulu'  pulcher  in  alto 

Quaerit  Aventino  laevum  genus  altivolantum. 
80     Certabantf  urbem  Romam  Remoramne  vocarent. 

Omnibu*  cura  viris,  uter  esset  induperator. 

Exspectant  veluti,  consul  cum  mittere  signum 

Volt,  omnes  avidi  spectant  ad  careens  oras, 


74 

Quam  mox  emiltat  pictis  e  faucibu'  currus: 
85     Sic  exspectabat  populus  atque  ora  tenebat 

Rebus,  utri  magni  victoria  sit  data  regni. 

Exin  Candida  se  radiis  dedit  acta  foras  lux ; 

Et  simul  ex  alto  longe  pulcherruma  praepes 

Laeva  volavit  avis,  simul  aureus  exoritur  sol. 
90     Cedunt  de  caelo  ter  quattor  corpora  sancta 

Avium,  praepetibus  sese  pulcrisque  locis  dant, 

Conspicit  inde  sibi  data  Romulus  esse  propritim 

Auspicio  regni  stabilita  scamna  solumque. 

Note  especially  (82  and  85)  the  variation  between  the 
Historical  Present  and  the  Imperfect  of  the  same  verb. 
The  Historical  Present  brings  before  the  eyes  a  picture  of 
the  waiting  people,  the  vividness  of  which  is  still  further 
enhanced  by  the  following  simile.  The  Imperfect  takes 
up  the  same  act  of  waiting,  and  describes  its  continued 
character. 


3.     The  remains  of  early  satire  show  the  following  varia- 
tions : 

a.      The  Historical  Present  varied  with   the  Historical 

Perfect, 

Ennius,  Saturae  9-12,  where,  in  an  almost  epic  descrip- 
tion, a  series  of  Perfects  of  momentary  actions 
closes  with  a  vivid  Historical  Present  of  a  continued 
state : 

*     mundus  caeli  vastus  constitit  silentio, 
10     Et  Neptunus  saevus  undis  asperis  pausam  dedit ^ 
Sol  equis  iter  repressit  ungulis  volantibus, 
Cofistitere  omnes  perennes,  arbores  vento  vacant. 


b»      The  Historical  Present  varied   with  the  Imperfect, 

Lucilius,  Saturae  1017,  where  an  Imperfect  of  continued 
action  and  description  is  followed  by  an  Historical 
Present  which  brings  a  scene  vividly  before  the  eyes  : 

Ibat  forte  domum.     sequimur  multi  atque  frequentes. 


75 

^.  The  remains  of  early  historical  literature  show  the 
following  variations : 

a.      The  Historical  Present  varied  with   the  Historical 

Perfect, 

L.  Cassius  Hemina  11,  where  the  narration  by  a  Perfect 
of  an  ordinary  historical  event  is  followed  by  the 
description  in  Historical  Presents  of  an  extraordinary 
event : 

Pastorum  uulgus  sine  contentione  consentiendo  praefecerunt  aequaliter  im- 
perio  Remum  et  Romulum,  ita  ut  de  regno  pararent  inter  se.  monstrum  yf/,-  sus 
parit  porcos  triginta. 

L.  Coelius  Antipater  44,  where  there  seems  to  be  no 
especial  reason  for  the  variation : 

Ipse  regis  eminus  equo  ferit  pectus  aduorsum,  cottgenuclat  percussus, 
deiecit  dominum. 

Cf .  Q^  Claudius  Quadrigarius  76  : 

Contione  dimissa  Metellus  in  Capitolinu  uenit  cum  mortalibus  multis.  inde 
domum  projiciscitur^  tota  ciuitas  eum  reduxit. 

In  ibid,  56  the  Perfect  expresses  the  result  of  the  Historical 
Present  which  denotes  the  main  event : 

Artorius  Taureae  dextrum  umerum  sauciat  atque  ita  resiluit. 


b.      The  Historical  Present  varied  with   the   Historical 

Perfect  and  the  Imperfect, 

Qc  Claudius  Quadrigarius  10,  where  the  only  Imperfect  is 
negatived  and  descriptive  of  a  continued  state,  and  a 
large  number  of  Perfects  of  instantaneous  action  and 
of  ordinary  narration  vary,  apparently  for  no  especial 
reason,  wuth  a  few  Historical  Presents : 

Cum  interim  Gallus  quidam  nudus  praeter  scutum  et  gladios  duo  torque 
atque  armillis  decoratus  processit,  qui  et  uiribus  et  magnitudine  et  adulescentia 
simulque  uirtute  ceteris  antistabat.  is  maxime  proelio  commoto  atque  utrisque 
summo  studio  pugnantibus  manibus  significare  coepit  utrisque,  quiescerent.  pug- 
nae  facta  pausa  est.  extemplo  silentio  facto  cum  uoce  maxima  conclamat,  si  quis 
secum  depugnare  uellet,  uti  prodiret.     nemo  audebat  propter  magnitudinem  atque 


76 


inmanitatem  fades.  deinde  Gallus  inridere  coepit  atque  linguam  exertare.  Id 
subito  perdolitum  est  cuidam  Tito  Manlio,  summo  genere  gnato,  tantum  flagitium 
ciuitati  adcidere,  e  tanto  exercitu  neminem  prodire.  is,  ut  dico,  processit  neque 
passns  est  uirtutem  Romanam  ab  Gallo  turpiter  spoliari.  scuto  pedestri  et  gladio 
Hispanico  cinctus  contra  Galium  constitit.  Metu  magno  ea  congressio  in  ipso 
ponti  utroque  exercitu  inspectante  facta  est,  ita,  ut  ante  dixi,  constiterunt :  Gal- 
lus sua  disciplina  scuto  proiecto  cunctabundus,  Manlius,  animo  magis  quam  arte 
confisus,  scuto  scutum  percussit  atque  statum  Gnlli  conturbattit.  dum  se  Gallus 
iterum  eodem  pacto  constituere  studet,  Manlius  iterum  scuto  scutum  percutit 
atque  de  loco  hominem  iterum  deiecit;  eo  pacto  ei  sub  Gallicum  gladium  successit, 
ne  Gallus  impetum  in  ictu  haberet,  atque  Hispanico  pectus  hatisit,  deinde  con- 
tinuo  humerum  dextrum  eodem  congressu  imidit  neque  recessit  usquam,  donee 
subuertit.  Vbi  eum  euertit,  caput  praecidit,  torqueni  detraxit  camque  sanguinu- 
lentam  sibi  in  collum  imponit. 

The  fragments  cited  above  are  too  few  and  too  slight 
to  serve  as  a  basis  for  any  very  certain  conckisions.  P^-om 
the  investigation  of  them,  hovi^ever,  it  may  be  justifiable 
to  infer  that  the  use  of  the  Historical  Present  in  ante- 
classical  literature  w^as  a  natural  development  of  its  use, 
so  far  as  it  has  been  possible  to  trace  this  use,  in  the 
spoken  language.  In  tragic  and  in  epic  poetry,  especially, 
much  the  same  principles  seem  to  govern  the  variation  of 
tenses  as  in  the  comic  poets.  In  the  historians  it  may  be 
possible  to  find  the  aoristic  use  of  the  Historical  Present 
as  nearly  equivalent  to  the  Historical  Perfect  more  clearly 
developed,  although  even  the  few  existing  fragments  con- 
tain examples  of  the  distinctly  vivid  use  of  the  tense. 

It  should  further  be  noted  that  from  the  fragments  of 
tragic  and  of  epic  poetry,  of  the  satire  and  of  history,  and 
also  from  the  fragments  of  comic  poetry  may  be  gathered 
a  large  number  of  Historical  Presents,  varying  with  no 
other  tenses.'  In  the  original  contexts,  however,  such 
variation  doubtless  occurred. 

'  From  the  comic  fragments,  19;    from  the  tragic,  28;    from  the  epic,  85; 
from  the  satiric,  13;   from  the  historical,  25. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Historical  Present  in  Subordinate  Clauses. 

The  preceding  chapters  in  treating  of  the  Historical 
Present  in  principal  clauses  have  treated  of  its  most 
important  use.  But  the  study  of  the  tense  will  not  be 
complete  unless  the  Historical  Present  in  subordinate 
clauses  be  examined,  and  also  the  sequence  of  tenses 
after  the  Historical  Present.  Subjunctive  subordinate 
clauses,  which  depend  directly  upon  their  principal  clauses, 
follow  the  principles  of  the  "sequence  of  tenses",  and 
must  be  distinguished  from  indicative  subordinate  (or 
coordinate)  clauses,  such  as  indicative  relative,  causal, 
and  temporal  clauses,'  the  tenses  of  which  are  indepen- 
dent of  the  tenses  of  the  principal  verbs.  The  present 
chapter  will  treat  of  the  Historical  Present  in  these 
indicative  subordinate  clauses,  while  the  following  chapter 
will  deal  with  the  sequence  of  subjunctive  tenses  after  the 
Historical  Present. 

The  various  explanations  that  have  been  advanced  of 
the  function  of  the  Historical  Present  in  subordinate 
clauses  accord  with  the  various  theories  of  its  function  in 
principal  clauses.  Holtze  and  Kiihner  include  in  their 
general  definition  of  the  tense  its  use  in  both  kinds  of 
clauses,  and  thus  imply  that  in  subordinate  as  well  as  in 
principal  clauses  it  is  aoristic  in  character  and  may  vary 

*Cf.  Hoffmann,  Zeitfolge  nach  dem  Praesens  historicum^  p.  19.  He,  how- 
ever, classes  indicative  relative  clauses  under  those  subordinate  clauses  that  follow 
the  principles  of  the  sequence  of  tenses,  distinguishing  them,  together  with 
others,  as  "Nebensatze,  die  durch  ihre  Zeitlage  bestimmend  sind  fur  die  Aussage 
des  Hauptsatzes",  from  subjunctive  subordinate  clauses,  which  he  calls  "Neben- 
siitze,  deren  Zeitlage  bedingt  ist  durch  die  Aussage  des  Hauptsatzes".  (pp.  25, 
32-42). 


78 


79 


arbitrarily  with  the  Historical  Perfect.*      The  explanation 
of  the  use  of  the  Historical  Present  in  subordinate  clauses 
that  results  from  Hoffmann's  theory  of  the  nature  of  the 
tense    in    principal    clauses  is  illustrated  by  Lange,  who 
maintains*  that,  owing  to  the  imperfect  character  of  the 
Historical  Present,  its  use  in  subordinate  clauses  distinctly 
differs    from    that    of    the    Historical    Perfect:      "Omnis 
nimirum  actio  triplici  modo  ex  altera  apta  esse  potest :    ut 
aut  ante  alteram  ipsa  iam  plane  absoluta  sit   {^lac/idan)^ 
aut  eodem,  quo  altera,  tempore  conficiatur  ab  eodemque 
principio  profecta  communem  quoque  rei  exitum  ostendat 
{zugletch  als  )^    aut   confecta   demum    altera    absolvatur 
(  waehrend ).       Atque    proximum    quidem     genus    totum 
praesenti    historico   obtigit,    cetera    perfecto  iusta  ratione 
concessa  sunt.     Praesens  enim  id  tantum  declarat  actionem 
aliquam    durare    nequedum    perfectam    esse,   ipsius   vero 
temporis,  quo  quid  conficiatur,  notionem  non    accuratius 
circumscribit."3     And  again,    "Particula  dum  iuncta  cum 
praes.  hist,  eiusmodi  proprie  indicat  actionem,  quae  ante- 
quam  altera  confici  sit  incepta,   iam  dudum  in  conspeclu 
versetur ;    itaque   saepe    ad    tales    refertur   voces,  quales 
inter ea^  interim^  etc.       Cum  vero  exprimendum  est  rem 
aliquam  paullo  post  alteram  evenisse,   ad  particulas  fost- 
quam^  qnoniam^  guom,  icbi,  tit  recurritur,    quibus    simili 
ratione  respondent  vocabula  subito,  cloco^  extcmpio,  etc. 
Singularis  tamen  praesentis  historici  vis  et  natura  nunquam 
oblitteratur,  immo  integra  semper  permanet;    neque  enim 

*  Kiihner  specifies  no  kinds  of  subordinate  clauses,  but  says  that  the  Histor- 
ical Present  is  used  "besonders  in  Hauptsatzen,  aber  auch  nicht  selten  in 
Nebensatzen".  Op.  et  loc.  cit.  See  Chapter  I,  p.  i.  Holtze  restricts  it 
especially  to  temporal  clauses :  "Praesens  historicum  aut  per  se  ponitur  aut 
pendens  a  variis  particulis,  imprimis  temporis."     Op,  cit.^  p.  64. 

^  De  sententiarum  temporalium  apud  priscos  scriptores  Latinos  syntaxi, 
Vratislaviae,  1878. 

3  p.  4. 


iisdem,    quibus    altera    actio,   cancellis  sese  continet,  sed 
ultra  pertinens  etiam  longius  extenditur."* 

Schneider  alone  seems  to  deny  the  existence  of  the 
Historical  Present  in  subordinate  clauses.  Upon  the 
erroneous  distinction  between  so-called  "  absolute "  and 
"relative"  time  he  bases  a  theory  that  the  present  tense  in 
these  clauses  that  is  used  of  past  events  is  not  the 
Historical  Present,  but  only  a  relative  present.* 

An  examination  of  the  Historical  Present  in  subordi- 
nate clauses  in  early  Latin  seems  to  point  conclusively  to  a 
function  and  an  usage  similar  to  the  function  and  the  usage 
in  principal  clauses  that  have  been  indicated  in  the  fore- 
going chapters.  In  subordinate  as  in  principal  clauses  the 
tense  serves  to  vividly  represent  the  past,  is  used  of  both 
aoristic  and  imperfect  conceptions,  and  varies  with  the 
Historical  Perfect,  the  Imperfect  and  the  Pluperfect,  for  the 
most  part  according  to  certain  principles,  which  find  their 
explanation  in  the  relation  of  these  subordinate  clauses  to 
their  principal  clauses  and  to  the  context  in  general,  rather 
than  in  their  relation  to  each  other. 

The  chief  interest  centres  about  the  Historical  Present 
in    temporal    clauses.       Relative    clauses    are    much   less 

"  pp.  7-8. 

*  Op.  cit.y  p.  12:  "  ut  recte  Langius  disseruit,  praesens  cum  particulis  dum, 
postquam,  quoniam,  quom,  ubi,  ut  coniunctum  semper  actionem  praeteritam 
significat,  quae  eodem  tempore  durat  nequedum  absoluta  est,  quo  altera  aut  plane 
aut  ex  parte  conficitur.  Minime  vero  hoc  cum  absoluto  praesentis  historici  genere 
confundendum  esse  video.  Nam  etsi  illae  particulae  imprimis  in  narrationis 
tenore,  in  quo  praes.  hist,  eiiam  in  sententiis  primariis  locum  habet,  cum  praesenti 
constructae  inveniuntur,  tamen  banc  structuram  certo  consilio  adhibitam  esse 
apparet  ad  indicandum  temporum  relationem.  Ut  enim  supra  vidimus,  praesentis 
historici  quod  proprie  dicitur  in  comicorum  sermone  minime  proprie  est  vis  actionis 
continuae,  sed  saepe  etiam  de  rebus  brevissimo  temporis  momento  peractis  neque 
ullo  perfecti  discrimine  usurpatur.  Quodsi  tantummodo  in  sententiis  temporali- 
bus,  ubicumque  praesens  legitur,  certam  illam  et  constantem  regulam,  ut  enuntiati 
primarii  actio  alterius  tempore  contineatur,  videmus  esse  observatam,  in  iis  prae- 
sens relativa  quadam  vi  positum  esse  elucet." 


So 


8i 


closely  connected  with  their  principal  clauses  and  with  the 
context.     Often    they    are    used  to  express  only  explan- 
atory   or     parenthetical     facts,     which     have     no     real 
interconnection  with  the  events  that  the  speaker  is  review- 
ing, or  to  denote  facts  that,  while  they  are  a  necessary 
part  of  the  scene,  yet  serve  rather  as  a  background  for  the 
main  activities,  which  are  described  by  Historical  Presents 
in  the  principal  clauses.     Therefore,  as  should  be  expected, 
the  Historical  Present  occurs  but  rarely  in  relative  clauses, 
while    the     Historical     Perfect    and     other    past    tenses, 
depending    upon    an    Historical    Present  in  the  principal 
clause,  are  far  more  common.       Over  against  ten  exam- 
ples of   the   Historical  Present  stand    forty    examples    of 
past   tenses.      Much  the  same  is  true  of  causal  clauses. 
Of  the  small  number  of  such  clauses  three  show  an  His- 
torical Present  after  a  past  tense  in  the  principal  clause, 
while  five  show  a  past  tense  after  an  Historical  Present 
in   the    principal    clause.     The   facts  expressed  by  these 
past    tenses    are  explanatory  of  the  main  facts.       In  the 
case  of  the  Historical  Presents  emphasis  is  laid  upon  the 
cause  itself* 

In  temporal  clauses,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Historical 
Present  plays  an  important  part,  since  the  activities  denoted 
by  the  verbs  in  these  clauses  are  integral  parts  of  the 
scene  that  the  speaker  is  describing.  In  relation  to  the 
principal  verb  the  subordinate  Historical  Present  may  be 
used  of  either  antecedent  or  contemporary  time,  according 
to  its  introductory  particle.  And  as  in  principal  clauses 
so  in  these  subordinate  clauses  the  Historical  Present  often 
varies  with  other  tenses.  There  are  eighty-five  examples  of 
the  Historical  Present,  over  against  forty-four  examples  of 
the  Historical  Perfect,  two  of  the  Imperfect,  and  four  of 
the  Pluperfect.  Here  are  considered  temporal  clauses 
introduced  by  fostquam,  quomam,  qnom,  ubt,  ut,  frius- 


quanta  and  donee.  The  Present  with  diim  in  such 
clauses,  although  usually  explained  as  the  Historical  Pres- 
ent, seems  rather  to  go  back  directly  to  the  original 
Present.*  In  view,  however,  of  the  doubt  in  regard  to 
their  nature,  the  dum  clauses  will  be  included  in  the  fol- 
lowing citations. 

In  support  of  the  claim  made  above,  that  the  use  of 
the  Historical  Present  in  subordinate  clauses  is  dependent 
only  upon  the  nature  of  the  tense  itself,  it  will  be  well  to 
point  out  the  inadequacy  of  two  other  explanations  which 
might  suggest  themselves. 

Even  in  such  sentences  as  those  now  under  considera- 
tion, it  is  sometimes  claimed  that  the  tense  in  the 
subordinate  clause  depends  upon  the  position  of  this  clause 
in  relation  to  its  principal  clause  in  such  a  way  that  when 
the  subordinate  clause  follows  an  Historical  Present  in  the 
principal  clause,  its  verb  naturally  tends  tov^^ards  the 
Historical  Present,  while,  on  the  contrar}^,  when  it  pre- 
cedes its  verb,  it  naturally  tends  towards  the  past  tenses, 
the  idea  of  the  representation  of  the  past  not  yet  having 
been  introduced.  How  entirely  this  principle  fails  to 
explain  the  use  of  the  Historical  Present  in  subordinate 
clauses  in  early  Latin  will  appear  from  the  following 
tabular  statements,  in  which  are  included  subordinate 
Historical  Presents  combined  with  principal  Historical 
Presents  and  with  past  tenses  ;  and  subordinate  past  tenses 
combined  with  principal  Historical  Presents : 

*  Schmak,  Reisig's  Vorlesungen,  III,  p.  341,  and  Laieinische  Syntax^  p. 
509,  follows  Hoffmann  (Die  Construction  der  latHnischen  Zcitpartikeln) 
in  explaining  the  Present  with  dum  as  an  Historical  Present.  Kiihner,  op.  cit.^  II, 
p.  910,  Draeger,  op.  cii.y  II,  p.  604,  Roby,  Lafin  Grammar^  II,  §  145S,  and 
others  give  the  same  explanation.  Riemann,  on  the  contrary,  Synlaxc  Latinc^  p. 
372,  justly  maintains  that  the  use  of  postquamy  ubi  and  «/  with  the  Historical 
Present  for  the  sake  of  enlivening  a  narrative  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  use 
of  dum  (meaning,  not  "during  the  entire  time  that",  but  *' at  the  same  time 
that*')  with  the  Present,  which  is  the  only  regular  construction  of  this  particle. 


postquam 

Historical  Present.. 
Historical  Perfect . . 
Pluperfect , 


82 

TEMPORAL  SENTENCES. 

subordinate  clause    pre 
cedes  principal 

15      12 

27      26 

I      I 


43 


quoniam 
Historical  Present. . . .  14 
Historical  Perfect ....    2 

16 


quom 

Historical  Present. . . .  22 

(3  principal  clauses 
are  wanting.) 

ubi 

Historical  Present  • ...  30 

(one  principal  clause 
is  wanting.) 

Historical  Perfect 17 

47 


ut 

Historical  Present ....  i 

Historical  Perfect ....  6 

Imperfect 2 

Pluperfect 3 


12 


priusquam 
Historical  Present 2 

donee 
Historical  Present i 


dum 
Historical  Present ....  52 


39 


9 
I 

10 


10 


29 


17 
46 


I 
6 
2 

3 
12 


38 


subordinate    clause    fol- 
lows   principal 

3     (  I  principal  clause 

I         contains    a    past 

tense.) 


5  (3  principal  clauses 

I  contain     a      past 

—  tense.) 
6 


9     (all  principal  clauses 

contain      a     past 
tense.) 


I   (principal  clause  con- 
tains  a  past  tense.) 


14  (13  principal  clauses 
contain  a  past 
tense.) 

Exclusive  of  the  dum  sentences  this  table  shows  143  temporal  sentences,  in 
118  of  which  the  subordinate  precedes  the  principal  clause;  in  21  of  which  the 
subordinate  follows  the  principal  clause;  in  four  of  which  the  principal  clause  is 
wanting.  It  also  shows  that  in  14  of  the  19  cases  in  which  the  subordinate  His- 
torical  Present  follows  the  principal  clause  this  clause  contains  a  past  tense. 


83 


RELATIVE  SENTENCES. 


pronoun 

Historical  Present. 
Historical  Perfect. 

Imperfect 

Pluperfect 


.   6 

•13 

•  9 

•  7 


35 


subordinate    clause  pre- 
cedes principal 

3 

5 

I 


subordinate    clause    fol- 
lows principal 

3 

8 


adverb 

Historical  Present ....  4 

Historical  Perfect....  7 

Imperfect 4 

Pluperfect i 


16 


13 


3 
4 

2 

I 
10 


5 
6 

22 


I 

3 
2 


This  table  shows  51  relative  sentences,  in  23  of  which  the  subordinate  pre- 
cedes the  principal  clause;  in  28  of  which  the  subordinate  follows  the  principal 
clause. 


quia 

Historical  Present..    .  .2 

Historical  Perfect i 

Imperfect i 

4 

quod 

Imperfect i 

Pluperfect i 

2 

propterea   quod 
Imperfect i 


CAUSAL  SENTENCES. 

subordinate   clause   pre- 
cedes principal 

I    

I    

I    


subordinate  clause  follo^vs 

principal 
I   (principal  clause  con- 
tains a  past  tense.) 


I 

I 

2 
I 


This  table  shows  7  causal  sentences,  in  3  of  which  the  subordinate  precedes 
the  principal  clause;   in  4  of  which  the  subordinate  follows  the  principal  clause. 

The  above  tables   show:     (i)  that  by  far  the  larger 
number   of    subordinate    clauses    precede    their  principal 


84 

clauses;  (2)  that  in  tliese  preceding  subordinate  clauses 
the  Historical  Present  and  Historical  Perfect  and  other 
past  tenses  occur  indiscriminate!}^ ;  and  (3)  that  in  the 
majority  of  cases  in  which  the  subordinate  Historical 
Present  follows,  the  principal  clause  contains  a  past  tense, 
not  an  Historical  Present. 

In  temporal  sentences  the  subordinate  Historical 
Present  will  be  seen  to  predominate,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  most  of  the  subordinate  clauses  precede  their  princi- 
pal clauses.  In  relative  sentences  it  is  noticeable  that 
more  than  half  of  the  few  Historical  Presents  precede 
their  principal  clause,  while  in  the  relative  clauses  that 
follow  a  principal  Historical  Present  the  past  tenses  are 
predominant.  In  causal  sentences  one  of  the  two  sub- 
ordinate Historical  Presents  precedes  a  past  tense  in  the 
principal  clause,  v/hile  of  the  five  subordinate  past  tenses 
three  follow  an  Historical  Present  in  the  principal  clause. 

A  more  detailed  examination  of  the  relation  of 
subordinate  and  principal  clauses  makes  plain  another 
important  fact,  namely,  that  the  Historical  Present  in  the 
subordinate  clauses  cannot  be  explained  by  attraction. 
Out  of  eiohty-one  examples  of  the  subordinate  Historical 
Present  in  temporal  sentences  thirty-seven  show  a  past 
tense  in  the  principal  clause ;  while  there  are  fifty-eight 
examples  of  a  past  tense  in  the  subordinate  clause  with 
an  Historical  Present  in  the  principal.  In  relative  sen- 
tences there  are  thirty  and  in  causal  sentences  fivt 
examples  of  a  subordinate  past  tense  with  a  principal 
Historical  Present.  The  following  tables  will  make  this 
clear : 


8s 


to 

"* 

*■» 

N 

ir 

^ 

t^ 

»M 

•^  1 

•"d- 

•^ 

.". 

1 

m 

1 

CO 

T3 

3 

^ 

3 

§ 

(A 

3 

C 

0 

>* 

c 

^ 

■  rH 

a. 

3 

3 

1> 
0 

C 

3 

c 
c 
W 

CA 

to 

^3 

tr. 

3 

3 

0 
C 
0) 

c/5 

0 

« 

5 

>H 

• 

Vi 

*H 

S: 

yu 

*    » 

•-> 

S 

■4-J 

^ 
v* 

•^ 

3 

•f 

^ 

3 

3 

.2 

• 

1— 1 

•* 

s 

• 

^^ 

;^ 

*^ 

"'^ 

^ 

^ 

»i4 

»M 

.^ 

v» 

a 

PL, 

*»4 
•** 

^ 
5 

• 

5 

•Ji 

3 
*^ 
3 

1 

CA 

3 
■*-> 

3 

^ 

•— < 

•  •-< 

U3 

"»* 

On 

0 

»4 

*^ 

« 

t 

-  1  S" 

"Si 

r 

{-1 
W 

0 

3 

l> 

0 

<-■ 

w 

s 
» 

'3- 

3 

r 

r- 

!/3 

.5 

'S 
c 
W 

3 

• 

u 

cy 

3 
fc/3 

• 

*** 

"*»» 
"*^ 

« 

3 

C 

1 

10 

_ 

ha 
3 
P. 

n^ 

"V 

>§ 

rt 

(A 

^ 

•x 
^ 

M 

ro 

f* 

,0 

« 

*4 

1 

ro 

US 

u 

c 
1) 

••* 

1 

5: 

3 

3 
cS 

y 

c 
a; 

3 

• 
•  • 

in 

a 
0 

C 

•»4 

1 

3 
3 

u 

•  • 

_       c 

C 
en 

•^4 

5 

s 

0 

••«* 

'4-* 

'r* 

c 

0 

§ 

NO 

c 

0) 
91 

5 

QO 

to 

5 

.«5 

% 

•s 

CA 

■s 

7J 

-1 

0* 

• 

5: 

3 

i 

0 

> 

• 

3 
3 

&4 

0 

0) 

> 
in 

c 

~        3 

u 

"o 

73 

C 

X 

x 

•c 

ro 

M 

M4 

HH 

1  *^ 

4J 

M 

1) 

a* 

? 

1 

•\ 

^ 

ro 

•* 

1 ' 

t^ 

JS 

v 

Q 

tf) 

'ci 

« 

'c3 

.iS 

» 

tA 

3 

4-> 
0 

^ 

4-1 
0 

H 

f 

3 
3 

0 
0 

C 

3 

C 

rt 

• 

H 

^ 

I 

3 

u 

c 

0) 

H 

M 

s 

H 

U  -l 

S 

H 

1 

86 


87 


M       t-4       I 


ro 


•^    « 

(A 

o 

s 

c 

*l"^ 

<u 

o 

a> 

3 

H 

hJ 

1 

•V* 

Si 


»o  « 


<2> 

3 


e;      5 


re 


C 


8   M 


00 


lA 

o 

c 

c 

(A 


> 
o 


a 
o 


^ 


"\j 


CA 

9 
C 


2»» 


^ 


^    « 


ro 


4) 

o 

a 

4> 

Pn  h 


(A 

s 


Si 


Si 
■a 


\n 


8 


tA 


Si 


'fsk 


^ 

« 


7.     Imperfect  in  the  subordinate;  Historical  Present  in  the  principal  clause, 

ut 


CO    CO   I    vo 


^  E 


0) 

c 


CA 


C^  vO     )-• 


■-«    I    r>. 


"a 

Nk 


73 

D 

0)     CA  £5 

«->     =3      .   .2 

c  :s  0  ^ 

Pt,  H  hJ  O^ 


(A 

P 

S3 


N 


VO 


Si 

S       (A 

-I 


0^   t-O    HH     i-<     iM 


a 

«-)       CA 
^      3 


CA 

3 


u 

c 


)-<     3 

3  -r 


(A 

3 

C 
C 


c< 

o 
H 


Ps  H  c/}  ^  W 


postquam 
Plaulus         I 


Total:  4. 


Plautus 

I 

Terence 

I 

2 

il  Present  in  the 

principa 

ut 

Plautus 

I 

Terence 

2 

RELATIVE   SENTENCES. 

I.     Historical  Present  in  the  subordinate;   Historical  Present  in  the  principal 

clause. 


pronoun 
Plautus 
Ennius 
Coel.  Antipater 

Total:   10. 


3 

2 

I 


adverb 

Plautus  2 

Terence  i 

Cato  I 


2.     Historical  Perfect  in  the  subordinate;    Historical  Present  in  the  principal 

clause. 


pronoun 
Plautus 
Terence 
S.  Turpilius 
Ennius 
L.  Cassius  Hemina 

Total:  20. 


8 
2 
I 
I 
I 

13 


adverb 

Plautus  5 

L.  Pomponius  i 

Ennius  i 


i)li 


3.     Imperfect  in  the  subordinate;  Historical  Present  in  the  principal  clause. 


pronoun 


Plautus 

5 

Terence 

I 

Lucilius 

2 

Sisenna 

I 

adverb 

Plautus  I 

Attius  I 

Sisenna  2 


Total:   13. 


88 


Pluperfect  in  the  subordinate ;   Historical  Present  in  the  principal  claure, 

pronoun  adverb 

Plautus  6  Plautus 

Terence  I 

7 

Total:  8. 


CAUSAL  SENTENCES. 

1,  Historical  Present  in  the  subordinate;   Historical  Perfect  in  the  principal 

clause, 

quia 
Plautus  2 

2.  Historical  Perfect  in  the  subordinate;   Historical  Present  in  the  principal 

clause, 

quia 
Terence  i 

3.     Imperfect  in  the  subordinate ;  Historical  Present  in  the  principal  clause. 


quia 
Terence 
Total:   3. 


quod 
Varro         I 


propterea  quod 
Sisenna         i 


4.     Pluperfect  in  the  subordinate ;   Historical  Present  in  the  principal  do  use. 

quod 
Terence         i 


It  seems  clear  from  a  study  of  all  the  above  tables 
that  the  use  of  the  Historical  Present  in  subordinate  clauses 
is  to  be  explained  neither  by  the  relative  position  of  these 
clauses  to  their  principal  clauses,  nor  by  the  attraction 
of  the  subordinate  to  the  principal  verb,  but  is,  rather, 
independent,  and,  as  has  already  been  emphasized,  par- 
allel to  the  use  of  the  tense  in  principal  clauses. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  do  more  than  briefly 
classify  and  cite  the  passages.  They  may  be  divided  into 
single  sentences  composed  of  one  or  more  subordinate 
clauses  and  one  principal  clause,  in  which  no   variation 


89 

of  the  Historical  Present  with  other  tenses  occurs  in  the 
subordinate  clauses ;  and  longer  passages  composed  of 
two  or  more  subordinate  and  principal  clauses,  in  which 
such  variation  does  occur. 

TEMPORAL  SENTENCES. 

I.     Historical  Present  in    the   subordinate  ;    Historical 
Present  in  the  principal  clause, 

a,     -postqua^n,^ 

Ctirculio  683  : 

Postquatn  nil  flt^  clamore  homincm  posco, 

L.  Afranius  207-9  • 

postquam  se  uidet 
Inibi  esse,  gnatam  paruulam  sororibus 
Comviendat, 

Cf.  Caecilius  Statins  4, 

h,     qtioniain,^ 
Truculentus  401-3  : 

Mater  ancillas  iubet^ 
Quoniam  iam  decumus  mensis  aduentat  prope, 
Aliam  aJiorsum  ire. 


*  The  single  sentences  cited  above  often  occur  in  longer  passages  in  which 
the  independent  verbs  show  a  variation  of  the  Historical  Present  with  other 
tenses.  Sentences  in  which  two  subordinate  clauses  depend  upon  one  principal 
verb  are  cited  under  the  heading  of  each  clause. 

*  In  order  that  all  the  examples  of  each  kind  of  temporal  sentence  may  be 
grouped  together,  references  are  given  to  the  occurrences  of  sentences  like  the 
above  in  passages  in  which  there  is  a  variation  of  tenses  in  the  subordinate 
clauses:    Captiui  ^%Ty   Miles  Gloriosus  i2^-$\  Hecyra  187-8;   Phormio  6'i2-'^'i. 

^  Aulularia  377;  Bacchides  2<)0'<)iy  299-300;  Cistcllaria  164-65;  Poenuhis 
68-9. 

^  Bacchides  "^ot^-yy  Epidicus  217. 


go 

Heaiiton  Timoritmcnos  650-51  : 

quom  exponendam  do  illi,  de  digito  anurunr 
Detraho^ 

Cf .  Andria  362  ;  Hecyra  39-40  ;  Attius  436. 

In  Ennius,  Comoediae  386  the  principal  clause  is  wanting  : 

Cum  desubito  me  orat  mulier  lacrimansq.ue  ad  genua  acddit, 

Cf.  Annales  411-12  and  496^ 

d,  tthi,^ 
Caftiui  501  : 

4        ubi  quisque  uidenij  emit  obuiam. 

Cf.  Miles  Gloriosus  178;  Adclfhi  471-72;    Sextus  Tur* 
pilius  194-95. 

In  Pacuvius  69  the  principal  clause  is  wanting  : 

Vbi  ego  me  grauidam  sentio  adgrauescere. 

Ennius,  Annales  65  r 

Occiduntur  tibiy  potittir  ratti'  Romulu'  praedam. 

Qj.  Claudius  Qiiadrigarius  10,  line  26 : 

ubi  eum  euertit,  caput  praecidit, 

e,  dtan.^ 

Bacchides  950-51  ;  3  Miles  Gloriosus  308;  Trimimmus 
166-68;  Emmchus  228 ',  ^nnms,  Annales  2^6',  Q^  Claud- 
ius Quadrigarius  13. 


*  Amphitruo  io6i,  where  the  principal  verb  is  not  expressed;  Casina  915, 
9^2;  Mercator  %Q-2\  Miles  Gloriosus  114-15;  Mostellaria  1051-52;  Pseudolus 
1278;  Eunuchus  132-34,  255-56,  414;  Ilecyra  I83-84,  185;  Heauton  Timorw 
menos  276-77  (so  Dziatzko,  after  Bentley;,  304-5;  Phormio  862;  Ennius, 
Tragoediae  180,  where  the  principal  verb  is  wanting. 

In  passages  like  the  above  occurring  where  there  is  a  variation  of  subordinate 
tenses  there  is  one  example  of  «/,  Mercator  loo;  and  one  of  priusquanty  Poenw 
his  66-7. 

^Amphitruo  1120;  Bacchides  279;  Casina  909;  Mercator  193;  Stichus 
366-67;   ^«««^/5«.y  255.  583,  843-44;   Q.  Claudius  Quadrigarius  10,  lines  20-1. 

3  According  to  Ritschl  and  others;  MSS  have  Perfect  in  the  subordinate 
clause. 


91 

2.     Historical  Presefit  in    the   subordinate ;    Historical 
Perfect  in  the   -principal  clause, 

a.     -postquam,^ 

Persa  822,  where  the  principal  tense  is  a  pure  rather  than 
historical  Perfect : 

lam  diu  facturnst^  postquam  bibimus„ 

Cf,  Andria  513-14 : 

nunc,  postquam  uidet 
Nuptias  domi  adpatari,  missast  ancilla  ilico. 

h^     quonia^nJ^ 
PoenuJus  665  : 

Inde  hue  aufugit^  qmnicLtn  capitur  oppidum^ 

Cf.  Casina  583. 

c,  quom, 

« 

Amphitruo  668  : 

Grauidam  ego  illanc  hie  reliqui^  quom  abeo^ 

Eunuchus  792-93  : 

quom  tibi  do  istam  uirginem> 
Dixtin  hos  dies  mihi  soli  dare  te  ? 

Cf.  Captiui  282. 

d,  priusqua?n,^ 
Curculio  637  : 

,         ,         ,        priusquam  7?ioritur  mihi  dedit. 

*  Menaechmi  24-5;    Trinummus  108-I13;   Ilecyra  120-21,  126-28,  158-59* 

*  Aulularia  9;  Bacchides  292;  Casina  885-86;  Menaechmi  481-83;  Ru- 
dens  6'J-S;    Trinummus  1 12-13. 

^  In  passages  like  the  above  occurring  where  there  is  a  variation  of  subordi- 
nate tenses  there  are  the  following  examples  of  ubi  :  Cistellaria  160-61 ;  Stichus 
558,  where  the  principal  clause  is  itself  subordinate  to  another  verb;  Eunuchus 
260-61,  517;  I/eauton  Timorumenos  276-77.  And  the  following  examples  of 
donee:  Cistellaria  581-83;  Mercator  194  (so  Leo;  see  Chapter  III,  p.  45, 
note). 


92 

Casina  241,  976;  Cistcllaria  90-1;  CurctiUo  682; 
Menaechmi  449  ;  Mercator  924  ;  Miles  Giorwsus  504-5  ;  ^ 
Mostellaria  1017-18;  P^^;/w/w5  803-04  ;  3  Rudens  2t6']-6S', 
TrmtimmtisS^g  ;  yl^/-?/^///54i-42,  691,  868-69 ;  4  Eimuchus 
341,949-50;  Hecyra  829;  Heauton  Timoritmcnos  257- 
58,  272,  491-2,  983;  Phormio  1007;  Sextus  Turpilius 
149;  L.  Pomponius  190. 

3.     Historical  Present  in  the  subordinate  ;  Im;pcr/ect  in 

the  ^principal  clause* 
a*     postquam* 

Phormio  569-72  is  sometimes  quoted  as  an  illustration, 
and  hence  is  included  here.  But  the  principal  verb 
upon  which  the  subordinate  verb  really  depends  is  a 
Perfect  Infinitive  depending  upon  the  Imperfect 
Indicative :  s 

Postquam  uidet  mc  eius  mater  esse  hie  diutius, 
Simiil  autem  non  manebat  aetas  uirginis 
Meam  neclegentiam:  ipsam  cum  omni  familia 
Ad  me  profectatn  esse  aibant* 

b,     quoni,^ 
Menaechmi  1136 : 

Hunc  censebat  te  esse,  credo,  quom  uocat  te  ad  prandiuin. 

^  Amphitruo  1098-99;  Mercator  97-8;  Pseudolus  1279;  Rudens  37; 
^w/«/^//«j  629,  632-33;  Phormio 'Jd',  Ileauton  Timerumetios  ^gg,6s$\  Ilecyra 
800-1. 

*  According  to  Leo's  reading  the  subordinate  tense  is  a  Perfect. 

'  According  to  Leo's  punctuation  this  sentence  belongs  under  i,  e, 

*  The  principal  tense  is  a  pure  rather  than  historical  Perfect. 

'  Lange,  <?/.  <r;V.,  p.  10,  foot-note  18,  explains  the  Imperfect  as  follows: 
••  imperfectum  aibant'm  cotidiano  sermonis  usu  idem  fere  valet  quod  dixcrunt  et 
h.  1.  sine  dubio  propter  praecedens  imperfectum  manebat  admissum  est." 

^Menaechmi  29,  1053-54;   Hecyra  1 15-16. 


93 
Eunuchus  345  : 

.         .         hue  quom  aduenio^  nulla  erat^ 

Cf.  Caftiui  SS^  *i  Afcnaechmi  111^, 

c»     dum,^ 
Lucilius  1014-17. 

4.  Historical  Present  in  the  subordinate  ;  Pluperfect  in 

the  -principal  clause.'^ 

a,  quo7n.^ 
Mercator  617  : 

lam  addicta  atque  abducta  erat^  quom  ad  portum  uenio. 

Eunuchus  342-3  : 

quom  hue  respicio  ad  uirginem, 
Ilia  sese  interea  commodum  hue  aduorterat* 

b,  duni, 
Ennius,  Annales  391. 

5 .  Historical  Perfect   in    the   subordinate  ;    Historical 

Present  in  the  principal  clause, 

a,    postquam,^ 
Mercator  256-7  : 

Postquam  id  quod  uolui  transegi,  ibi  ego  conspicor 
Nauem. 

*  Ilecyra  802-3. 

*  There  is  an  example  of  the  Historical  Present  in  the  subordinate,  and  the 
Historical  Infinitive  in  the  principal  clause  in  a  passage  in  which  a  variation  of 
subordinate  tenses  occurs :  Bacchides  289,  where  the  subordinate  clause  is  intro- 
duced by  ubi. 

'  Eunuchus  522,  where  the  principal  tense  is  itself  subordinate  to  another 
verb. 

^  Amphitruo  22*j ^  IO91-93,  II07-8,  II II,  III4-15;  Bacchides  2*^%  Captiui 
507;  Curcu/io  ^2^f  249i  35V*  -Epidicus  242-4^;  Menaechmi  ^y-^o;  Miles  Glo- 
riosus  121-22;  Mostellaria  1048-49;  Pseudolus  \2']2-*]y^  Andria  4<)i;  Eunuchus 
137-38. 


94 


Hecyra  367-68 : 


Postquam  me  aspexere  ancillae  aduenisse  omnes  ilico 
Laetae  exclamant, 

Sextus  Turpilius  72-3  : 

postquam  ad  aedem  uenimuSy 
Veneratur  deos. 

Cf .  CuraiUo  646  ;  Mercator  262-63  ;  Mostcllaria  485-86  ; 
Truculentus  647  ;  Hecyra  267-68,  376. 

Naevius,  Bclliim  Pimictim  3-4 : 

Postquamde  aves  aspexit  in  templo  Anchisa, 
Sacra  in  mensa  Penatium  ordine  ponuntur, 

Ennius,  Annates  i62-'6;^  : 

,  Postquam  defessi  sunt  stare  et  spargere  sese 

Hastis  ansatis,  concurrunt  undique  telis. 

3.     quoniayn,^ 
Asinaria  350-51  : 

Qnoniam  ille  elocutust  haec  sic         .         .         . 
Extemplo  facio  facetum  me. 

c,     uhiJ* 
Atiliilaria  708  : 

Vbi  ille  abiit^  ego  me  deorsum  duco  de  arbore. 

Adelp/n  SiS"!^ : 

ubi  earn  uidi^  ilico 
Accedo, 

Cf.  Cistellaria  577  ;3   Ctirculio  595-96. 
Lucilius  16 : 

Haec  ubi  dicta  rtV^///,  pausam  facit  ore  loquendi. 

'  Alostellaria  1050. 

^  Amphitruo  211-13,  216-17,  242-43,  1092-93;  J/?7tj  Gloriosm  109-10; 
Eunuchus  576,  844,  where  the  principal  verb  is  not  expressed ;  Heauton  Timoru- 
tnenos  121-22,  275;   Hecyra  189-90. 

3  According  to  the  reading  of  Goetz  and  Schoell,  which,  however,  they  mark 
as  corrupt,  the  principal  verb  is  interrogo.  Other  readings  substitute  the  part- 
iciple obsecrans  for  this  verb,  and  make  inquam  in  578  the  principal  verb. 


95 
O.  Claudius  Quadrigarius  73  : 

Vbi  decreuerunt^  commemorant  Graccho,  foedus  prior  Pompeianum  non  esse 
seruatum. 

d,     ut,^ 
Poenulus  650-52  : 

ut  ad  portum  processimus^ 
Atque  istum  e  naui  ibi  exeuntem  oneraria 
Videmus, 

Andria  590  : 

ut  hinc  te  intro  ire  iussi,  opportune  hie  fit  mi  obuiam. 

Cf.  Hecyra  365-68. 


6.  Imperfect  in  the  sichordinate  ;  Historical  Prese^it  in 

the  principal  clause, 

ut, 
Asinaria  343  : 

Verum  in  tonstrina  ut  sedebam,  me  infit  percontarier. 

Adelphi  406 : 

Nam  ut  numerabatur  forte  argentum,  interuenit. 

7.  Pluper/ect  in  the  subordinate  ;  Historical  Present  in 

the  principal  clause . 
a,    postquafn, 
Captiui  24-5  : 

Postquam  belligerant  Aetoli  illi  cum  Aleis, 


•  • 


capitur  alter  fihus. 


b,     ut, 
Ctirculio  646-47  : 


lam  ut  me  conlocauerat^ 
Exoritur  uentus  turbo. 


'  Bacchidcs  278-79;  Phormio  617. 


96 
Hecyra  378 : 

iam  ut  limen  exierain^^  ad  genua  accidit, 

Cf.  Adelp/n  6iS'i(), 


RELATIVE  SENTENCES.^ 

I.     Historical  Present   in   the  subordinate ;    Historical 

Present  in  the  -princifal  clause. 

a.  pronoun,  3 
Ennius,  Annates  294-6 : 

Haece  locutu'  vocot^  quoi  turn  bene  saepe  libenter 
Mensam  sermonesque  suos  rerumque  suarum 
Inpartit  cumulum. 

Cf.  304-5  and  309  of  the  same  passage. 
Coellus  Antipater  8  : 

Qui  intellegunt  quae  fiant,  dissentiuntur, 

b,  adverb,  4 
Cato  139 : 

Qua  molissimum  est^  adoriantur. 


*  So  Dziatzko  for  the  exirem  of  the  MSS. 

*  In  the  citation  of  relative  sentences  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  classify  them 
according  to  the  more  or  less  intimate  connection  between  their  subordinate  and 
principal  clauses.  The  reasons  for  the  occurrence  of  the  Historical  Present  and 
of  other  tenses  in  the  subordinate  clauses  have  been  indicated  above,  pp.  79-80. 
Hoffmann,  in  classing  these  clauses  with  subjunctive  subordinate  clauses  (see 
above,  p.  77,  note),  explains  their  tenses  in  accordance  with  his  principle  of  the 
sequence  of  tenses  after  the  Historical  Present,  which  will  be  commented  upon 
in  Chapter  V.     See  pp.  32-34  of  his  treatise. 

^  References  will  be  given  to  relative  sentences  like  the  above  in  passages  in 
which  there  is  a  variation  of  the  Historical  Present  with  other  tenses  in  the  sub- 
ordinate clauses:  Aviphitrito  231-32;  Curculio  353  (see  Chapter  III,  p.  39, 
note);   Miles  Gloriosus  117;   Andria  ^<^i. 

^  Miles  Gloriosus  ii<,'y   A/os/el/aria  10^1-^2;    Eu»uc/i us  844. 


97 

3.     Historical   Perfect    in    the   subordinate  ;    Historical 

Present  in  the  principal  clause, 

a,  pronoun,^ 
Af creator  260-61  : 

Atque  ibi  ego  aspicio  forma  eximia  mulierem, 
Filius  qua7n  aduexit, 

Andria  104-5  : 

Fere  in  diebus  paucis,  quibus  haec  acta  suniy 
Chrysis         .         .         moritur. 

Sexliis  Turpilius  203  : 

Dat  ultro  ac  muneratur  quod  ab  illo  abstulit. 

Cf.  Mercator    256-57  :     Andria    591  ;     Ennius,     Annates 

401-2. 
L.  Cassius  Hemina  11  : 

Sus  par  it  parcos  triginta,  cuius  rei  fanum  fecerunt  laribus  Grundilibus. 

b,  adverb,^ 
L.  Pomponius  40 : 

Et  uhi  insilui  in  coleatum  eculeum,  ibi  tolutim  tortor. 

Ennius,  Annates  501  : 

Qua  murum  fieri  voluity  urgtientur  in  unum. 


4.     Imperfect  in  the  subordinate  ;  Historical  Present  in 

the  principal  clause, 

a,     pronoun,^ 
Truculentus  647-48  : 

,         ,         .         aduenit  si  deis  placet 
Ad  uillam  argentum  meo  qui  debebat  patri, 
Qui  ouis  Taretinas  erat  mercatus^  de  patre. 

*  Amphitruo  1 103;  Miles  Gloriosus  120,  122,  127;  Poenulus  72,  87. 
^  yJmphitruo  22,Si  1067;  Mercator  8o-i,  ^S'^'y  Miles  Gloriosus  118. 

»  Captiui  482-83;    Casina  4i'2\  Miles  Gloriosus  iio-li;   Rudens  ^S, 

*  See  below,  5. 


98 
Andria  ii8  : 

inter  mulieres, 
Quae  ibi  aderant^  forte  unam  aspicio  adulescentuKim. 

Lucilius  453  : 

.         .         .         inquit  qui  cepe  serebat. 

Cf.  ibid,  217-18;  L.  Cornelius  Sisenna  9. 

h.     adverb. ' 
Attlus  629-30 : 

nauem  in  fugam 
Trans Jttnt^  subter  saxa  ad  laeuam,  qua  mons  vicllibat  mare. 

L.  Cornelius  Sisenna  126: 

Quam  maxinie  celatim  poterat^  in  insidiis  suos 
di spotlit, 

Cf.  ibid,  87. 

5.     Pluperfect  in  the  subordinate  ;  Historical  Present  in 

the  princifal  chnise, 
pronoun,  3 
Trucuientus  547-49.     See  above,  4,  a, 

CAUSAL   SENTENCES. 

I.     Historical  Present  in    the   subordinate;    Historical 
Perfect  in  the  principal  clause, 

quia,  4 
Rudens  366-67  : 

De  naui  timidae  ambae  in  scapham  insiliiimuSy  quia  uidcmus 
Ad  saxa  nauem  ferrier. 


*  Cistellaria  161-62. 

•  The  readings  vary,  but  are  all  Historical  Presents. 


^  Bacchides   263-64;     Cistellaria    179,    185-87;    Mcrcator   90-1;    Poenulus 
65-6;   /^tiddns  ^g-6o;   £uhuc//us  2$6;   a.nd  adverfiy  Amp/n'trup  241. 
*  Stichus  564. 


99 

2 .  Historical  Perfect   in    the   subordinate  ;    Historical 

Present  in  the  principal  clause, 

quia, 
Andria   121-23  : 

Quia '  turn  milii  lamentari  praeter  ceteras 
Visastt  et  quia  erat  ^  forma  praeter  ceteras 
Honesta  ac  liberali,  accedo, 

3.  Imfcrfcct  in  the  subordinate  ;  Historical  Present  in 

the  principal  clause, 

a.  quia, 

Andria  122-23.     See  the  preceding  passage. 

b,  quod, 

Varro,  de  re  rustica  III,  5,  18  : 

Pavo  surdity  quod         ,         ,         custos  dicebatur  deprensus. 

L.  Cornelius  Sisenna  23  : 

Manualis   lapides   dispertit^    propterea   quod  is   ager  omnis  eius  modi  telis 
indigcbat. 

4.  Plufcrfcct  in  the  subordinate  ;  Historical  Present  in 

the  principal  clause. 

quod. 
Hecyra  368  : 

Laeta  exdamant  'uenit',  id  quod  me  repente  aspexerant. 


^  So  Dziatzko  after  Spengel;   Umpfenbach,  quae, 
^  See  below,  3,  ^. 


lOO 

I.      The  Historical  P7'esent  varied   with    the  Historical 

Perfect, 

I,      Temporal  clauses, 
a.     Clauses  introduced  by  the  same  temporal  particle. 
Heauton  Timorumenos  275-306:* 

275      Vbi  uentuni  ad  aedis  est^  Dromo  pultat  fores; 
Anus  quaedam  prodit;  haec  ubi  aperit  ostium, 
Continue  hie  se  coniecit  intro,  ego  conseguor  ; 


Vbi  iHcimus  redisse  te  et  rogare  uti 
305     Veniret  ad  te,  mulier  telam  desinit 

Continue  et  lacrumis  opplet  os  totum  sibi. 

Cf.  ibid,^  121-28;  3    Eimuchus  512-22.4 

In    Ennius,     Tragoediae    180-81    the    principal  clause    is 
wanting  and  one  particle  introduces  two  tenses  : 

Nam  ubi  introductast  puerumque  ut  laverent  locaut 
In  clipeo. 

h.     Clauses  introduced  by  different  temporal  particles. 

In  some  passages  no  variation  occurs  in  the  tenses  of 
the  principal  clauses. 

Eu7itichus  132-38  : 5 

Is  ubi  esse  banc  forma  uidet  honcsta  uirginem 
Et  fidibus  scire,  pretium  sperans  ilico 
Producity  uendit,  .... 

•  ••••• 

.  postquam  seiisit  me  tecum  quoque 

Rem  habere,  Jingit  causas  ne  det  sedulo. 

"  In  the  passages  cited  to  illustrate  the  variation  of  the  Historical  Present 
with  other  tenses  in  subordinate  clauses  there  is  also  a  similar  variation  in  the 
tenses  of  the  principal  clauses,  except  when  the  contrary  is  expressly  noted;  but 
the  special  forms  of  variation  found  in  the  two  kinds  of  clauses  do  not  always 
coincide. 

*  See  Chapter  III,  pp.  51-2.         '  p.  52.         *  p.  67.         '  p.  40. 


lOI 


Cf.  Aulularia  9-17  ; '  Captiui  501-7  ;  =*  Phormio  617-33.  ^ 
In  Heauton  Timorumenos  655-57  and  Eunuchus  843-45 
one  of  the  two  temporal  clauses  is  introduced  by  dum. 
In  other  passages  variation  occurs  also  in  the  tenses 
of  the  principal  clauses. 
Bacchides  277-305  :  + 

Postquam  aurum  ahstulimus^  in  nauem  conscendimus^ 

Domi  cupientes.     forte  ut  adsedi  in  stega, 

Dum  circuvispecto  me,  atque  ego  lembum  conspicor 


Vbi  portu  exiftiusy  homines  remigie  sequiy 
290     Neque  aues  neque  uenti  citius.     quoniam  sentio 
Quae  res  gereretur,  nauem  extemplo  statuimus, 
Quotiiam  uident  nos  stare,  occeperunt  ratem 
Tardare  in  portu. 


Quoniam  uidemus  auro  insidias  fieri, 
300     Capimus  consilium  continue. 

•  •••••• 

•  •••••• 

Tristes  ilico, 

Quom  extemplo  a  portu  ire  nos  cum  auro  uident^ 
305     Subducunt  lembum  capitibus  cassantibus. 

Phormio  859-67  : 5 

Vt  mode  argentum  tibi  dedimus  apud  forum,  recta  domum 
860     Sumus  profecti;  ..... 

Vbi  in  gynaeceum  ire  occipio^  puer  ad  me  adcurrit  Mida 

ait  esse  uetitum  intro  ad  eram  accedere. 
,  ,  ,  ,  hoc  ubi  audiuiy  ad  fores 

Suspenso  gradu  placide  ire  perrexi^  accessiy  astiti. 

Cf.  Aulularia  377-83;^  Casina  881-922  ;  7  Cistellaria 
567-83  ;  s  Pseudolus  1272-78  ;  9  Stichus  364-67  ;  '°  Am- 
fhitrtio  1091-1120,"  where  the  only  subordinate  Presents 


*  The  principal  clauses  contain  no  Historical  Present. 
»  See  Chapter  III,  p.  49.         '  p.  48-  *  p.  61.  ^  p.  36. 

'  p.  47.         *  P-  53.         '  PP-  53-4.         "  p.  50.         "  pp.  58-9. 


p.  37- 


I02 


are     introduced     by    diim  ;     cf.    Eunuchus     629  -  35.  ' 

In  Trinunimus  108-13  two  subordinate  clauses,  one  of 
which  contains  two  different  tenses,  have  the  same 
principal  clause : 

Nam  postquam  hie  cius  rem  confregit  filius 
Fu/e^que  ipse  ad  pauperiem  prostratum  esse  se 
1 10     Suamque  filiam  esse  adultam  uirginem, 

Simul  eius  matrem,  suampte  nxorem,  mortuam : 
Quoniam  hinc  iturust  ipsus  in  Sileuciam, 
Mihi  coinmeiidauit  uirginem, 

2,      Toiiporal  and  relative  clauses. 
Mostcllaria  1044-52  :  * 

Nam  erus  me  postquam  rus  misit  filium  ut  suom  arcesserem, 
1045     Abii  iliac  per  angiportiim  ad  hortum  nostrum  clanculum. 

•  ••••tr** 

•  ••••••• 

Postquam  ex  opsidione  in  tutum  eduxi  maniplaris  meos, 
Capio  consilium,  ut  senatum  conguerronum  conuocem. 
1050     Quoniam  conuocaui^  alque  illi  me  ex  senatu  segregant, 
Vbi  ego  me  uideo  uenire  in  meo  foro,  quantum  potest 
Facio  iden>  quod  plurimi  alii  quibus  res  timida  aut  turbidast. 

In  IJcatiton  Ttmortuncnos  399  the  temporal  clause  is  in- 
troduced b\'  dam  and  the  one  principal  verb  is  an 
Historical  Perfect. 


2.      The  Historical  Presefit  varied  zvith  the   Imferfect. 

Temporal  and  relative  clauses. 

In  Phormio  76-1103  the  temporal  clauses,  which  contain 
the  Presents,  are  introduced  bv  duni. 

In  Q^  Claudius  Quadrigarius  10+  the  temporal  clauses, 
which  contain  the  Presents,  are  introduced  by  difl'er- 
ent  particles,  one  of  which  is  dum, 

'  See  Chapter  III,  p.  56.        '  p.  38.         ^  pp.  67-9.         ■♦  pp.  75-6. 


103 

3.      The  Historical  Present  varied  zvi/h  the  Pliifer/ect. 

Temporal  and  relative  clauses. 
Menaechmi  480-84  ; '  Eunuchus  234-61, 


4.      The  Historical  Present  varied  -with    the    Historical 

Perfect  and  the  hnpej'fect. 

I,      Temporal  and  relative  clauses. 
Captiui  478-87  :  ^ 

Nam  ego  ut  dudum  hinc  ahii^  access?  ad  adulescentes  in  foro: 


482     Dj'co  unum  ridiculum  dictum  de  dictis  melioribus, 
Quibus  solcbam  menstrualis  epulas  ante  adipiscier: 


Aht'o  ob  illis,  postquam  uideo  me  sic  ludificarier. 

2.      Temporal  and  causal  clauses. 

j\fercator  191-200,^^  where  the  only  subordinate  Present  is 
introduced  by  dum. 

J.      Temporal,  relative  and  causal  clauses. 

Menaeclnni  1052-57,  where  the  principal  clauses  contain 
no  Historical  Presents : 

Eripui^  homines  quom  ferebant  te  sublimen  quattuor, 

Apud  hasce  aedis.    tu  clamabas  deum  fidem  atque  honiinuni  omnium : 

Quom  ego  accurro  teque  eripio  ui  pugnando  ingratiis. 

Ob  eam  rem,  quia  te  seruaui  me  amisisti  liberum. 

Quom  argentum  dixi  me  petere  et  uasa,  tu  quantum  potest 

Praecucurristi  obuiam. 


*  See  Chapter  III,  p.  54. 


p.  36. 


P-45' 


I04 


los 


5.      The  Historical  Present  varied  with    the   Historical 

Perfect  and  the  Pluperfect. 

J.      Temporal  and  relative  clauses, 
Poenulus  64-87  : ' 

Sed  illi  seni,  qui  mortuosty  ei  filius 
65     Vincus  qui  fuerat^  abditiuos  a  patre, 
Puer  septuennis  stirripitur  Carthagine, 
Sexennio  prius  quidem  quam  moritur  pater. 
Quoniam  periisse  sibi  uidet  gnatum  unicum, 
Conicitur  ipse  in  morbum  ex  aegritudine 


Ille  qui  surripuit  puenim,  Calydonem  auehit: 
Vendit  eum  domino.  . 


75     Emit  ,  .  .  senex 

Puerum  ilium  eumque  adoptat  sibi  pro  filio 
Eumque  heredem  fecit^  quom  ipse  obiit  diem. 


Carthaginiensi  duae  fuere  filae : 
85     Altera  quinquennis,  altera  quadrimula. 
Cum  nutrice  una  peri  ere  eae  Megaribus. 
Eas  qui  surripuit^  in  Anactorium  deuehit: 

Cf .  Ainphitruo  203-60.  ^ 

2,      Te^nporal  and  causal  clauses* 

Eunuchus  575-92,3    where  the  only  subordinate  Presents 
are  introduced  by  du7n, 

6.      The  Historical  Present  varied  with   the   Historical 
Perfect^  the  Imperfect  and  the  Pluperfect, 

Tanporal  and  relative  clauses, 
Cistellaria  160-96 :  ^ 

160     Is  ubi  malam  rem  scit  se  meruisse,  ilico 

Pedibus  perfugium  peperit^  in  Lemnum  aufugii, 
Vbi  habitabat.     turn  ilia,  quam  compresserai^ 


i  c 


See  Chapter  III,  pp.  42-3.         *  pp.  59-60.         '  pp.  48-9.         *  p.  43. 


Decumo  post  mense  exacto  hie  peperit  filiam. 
Quoniam  reum  eius  facti  nescit  qui  siet, 
165     Paternum  seruom  sui  participat  consili: 


Postquatn  ille  uxori  iusta  f'cit^  ilico 
Hue  commigrauit.     diixit  uxorem  hie  sibi 
Eandem,  quam  olim  uirginem  hie  compresserat, 
Vt  earn  cognoscit  esse,  quam  compresserat ^ 

180     Ilia  illi  dicit  eius  se  ex  iniuria 

Peperisse  gnatam  clam  atque  earn  se  seruo  ilico 
Dedisse  exponendam.     ille  extemplo  seruolum 
lubet  ilium  eundem  persequi,  si  qua  queat 
Reperire  quae  sustulerit.     ei  rei  nunc  suam 

185     Operam  usque  assiduo  seruos  dat^  si  possiet 
Meretricem  illam  inuenire,  quam  olim  tollere, 
Quom  ipse  exponebat^  ex  insidiis  uiderat. 


195     .  .  .  .  .  hoc  ubi 

Mater  resciuit^  iussit  accersi  eam  domum. 


Cf.  Mcnaechmi  24-66;'    Miles   Gloriosus  109-33;^   He- 
cyra  115-191.3 


*  See  Chapter  III,  p.  57. 


pp.  46-7. 


p.  69. 


I07 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE      SEQUENCE      OF     TENSES      AFTER      THE      HISTORICAL 

PRESENT. 

It  has  been  commonly  said  of  the  Historical  Present 
that  in  its  influence  on  dependent  verbs  it  is  regarded  as 
either  a  primary  or  a  secondary  tense,  according  as  its 
form  or  its  logical  meaning  predominates.  This  view 
w^as  first  opposed  by  Hug,^  who  maintained  that  the  pres- 
ent sequence  after  the  Historical  Present  was  due  to  the 
meaning  as  w^ell  as  to  the  form  of  the  tense  :  "  Denn 
wenn  eine  vergangene  Haupthandlung  so  lebhaft  vor  die 
Seele  tritt  dass  sie  als  gegenwartig  angeschaut  wird — und 
das  ist  doch  der  Sinn  des  Praesens  hist. — so  sollten  offen- 
bar  auch  die  damit  gleichzeitigen  Nebenhandlungen  in 
die  Gegenwart  treten,  also  Imperfect  zum  Prasens  werden, 
oder  wenn  sie  vorgegangen  sind,  in  die  Zeit  riicken  die 
ein  Vorhergegangensein  in  Beziehung  auf  die  Gegenwart 
ausdriickt,  also  vom  Plusquamperfect  ins  Perfect."  But 
this  sequence,  logical  as  it  would  be,  is  not  always  ob- 
served, and  often  the  past  sequence  is  employed  in  its 
stead.  Such  variation,  how^ever,  according  to  Hug,  does 
not  depend  upon  the  arbitrary  choice  of  the  writer.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  governed  by  some  principle,  none  the 
less  fundamental  because  the  writer  follows  it  by  instinct 
rather  than  by  conscious  effort.  This  "Grundprincip" 
Hug  tried  to  establish  as  follows  :  "  Die  Construction  des 
Prasens  hist,  als  Prasens  ist  am  meisten  bei  den  Neben- 
satzen    durchgedrungen,    die   dem   Hauptsatze,    der   das 

*  Die  Consecuiio  temporum  des  Praesens  historicum  zunachst  bei  Caesar^ 
yahrbiUher  fiir  dassische  Philologie^  i860,  pp.  877  ff.  See  Hoffmann,  Zeitfolge 
nach  dem  Praesens  historicum^  pp.  i  ff.  Hug  included  in  his  treatment  such 
subordinate  clauses  as  have  been  discussed  in  Chapter  IV. 


Prasens  hist,  hat,  am  nachsten  stehen,  mit  ihm  am  innig- 
sten  zusammenhangen."  Furthermore,  in  the  case  of 
subjunctive  subordinate  clauses  he  maintained  that  the 
position  of  the  subordinate  clause  in  relation  to  the  prin- 
cipal influences  the  sequence  of  tenses  according  to  the 
following  rules : 

"a.  Wenn  der  Nebensatz  dem  Praes.  hist,  des 
HauptJatzes  nachfolgt,  so  konnen  beide  Constructionen 
fromiscuc  angewendet  werden. 

"^.  Wenn  der  Nebensatz  dem  Praesens  hist,  des 
Hauptsatzes  vorangeht,  so  wird  er  in  der  Kegel  in's  Im- 
perfect gesetzt,  einige  wenige  Falle  ausgenommen  in 
welchen  schon  vorher  Hauptsatze  in's  Praes.  hist,  gesetzt 
sind,  Oder  bei  kurzen  indirecten  Fragesatzen,  deren 
Verbum  ganz  in  der  Nahe  des  Verbum  finitum  steht." 

The  reason  given  by  Hug  for  the  latter  rule  was  that 
the  writer  "sich  gewissermassen  scheute,  die  Nebenhand- 
lung  hineinzuziehen,  bevor  er  die  Haupthandlung 
hineingezogen  hatte,  oder:  er  scheute  sich  die  Folgerung 
zu  Ziehen,  bevor  die  Ursache  gesetzt  war". 

The  same  results  that  Hug  reached  through  a  study 
of  the  subject  in  Caesar  were  reached  about  the  same  time 
by  Reusch  through  a  study  of  the  subject  in  Cicero,^  and 
the  theory  that  the  sequence  of  tenses  after  the  Historical 
Present  is  conditioned  by  the  position  of  the  subordinate 
clause  has  been  accepted  by  many  grammarians. 

Hoffmann,  in  his  treatise  already  referred  to,  made 
a  vigorous  attack  upon  this  theory.  With  justice  he 
exposed  its  inconsistencies,  and  then  proceeded  m  an 
exhaustive  treatment  of  the  subject,  based  upon  a  study 
of  all  the  ante-classical  authors,  of  Cicero,  Caesar, 
Nepos,    Sallust,    Vergil,    Livy,  Ovid,  Velleius,  Curtius, 

«  Zur  Lehre  von  der  Tempusfolge,  Elbing  1861.      See  Hoffmann,  op,  ciL. 
p.  4.     Reusch  also  included  indicative  subordinate  clauses. 


io8 

Tacitus,   the   younger    Pliny,    Florus    and    Eutropus,  to 
establish  a  theory  to  the  effect  that  the  Historical  Present 
is  a  purely  preterite  tense,  and  can  be  followed  by  only  the 
past   sequence,    except  in  the  case  of  a  certain  class  of 
subordinate  clauses  which  naturally,  from  their  relation  to 
the  rest  of  the  sentence,  tend  toward  the  present  sequence  : ' 
"Diirfen  wir  das  Resultat   unserer    Untersuchung  dahin 
2usammenfassen,  dass  das  Praesens  hist,   dem    Lateiner 
nur  als    Praeteritum    gegolten   hat,  und  dass    somit    alle 
um    ein  Prasens  hist,  sich  gruppierenden  Nebensatze  in 
den  der  Lage  zu  einem  Praeteritum  entsprechenden  rela- 
tiven  Zeiten  gegeben  werden  mtissen, — dass  jedoch  von 
dieser  temporalen  Unterordnung  solche  indicativische  oder 
conjunctivische  Nebensatze  ausgenommen  sind,   die  ent- 
weder  nur  einen  begrifflichen  Bestandtheil  des  Hauptsatzes 
bilden,  oder  die  Aussage  desselben,  sei  es  als  Object,  sei 
es    als    Epexegese,    vervollstandigen,    und    weiter  solche 
conjunctivische    Relativ-,    Final-,    und   Fragesatze,    die, 
als  im  Sinne  des  Subjects  gehalten,  durch  die  praesentische 
Zeitform  von  den  in  die  Erzahlung  gehorigen,  vom  Stand- 
punkte  des  Berichterstatters  aus  formulierten  geschieden 
werden  sollen."^     Any  other  cases  of  present  sequence  he 
does    away    with   by  maintaining  that  the  principal  verb 
upon  which  the  subordinate  clauses  depend  is  no  longer 
an  Historical  Present  but  has  been  made  by  them  into  a 
"real  Present".  3 

That  Hoffmann's  distinction  between  the  "Historical 
Present"  and  the  "real  Present"  is  valueless,  has  been 
shown  in  Chapter  H.  With  this  distinction  removed  his 
results  in  regard  to  subjunctive  subordinate  clauses  may 

*  See  Chapter  IV,  p.  77,  note,  for  Hoffmann's  division  of  subordinate  clauses. 

^  pp.  97-8. 

3  p.  25:  "das  Praesens  des  Hauptsatzes  ....  wird  auf  dem  Boden 
der  praesentischen  Nebensatze  zum  wirklichen  Praesens."  See  Chapter  I,  p.  6, 
note. 


109 

be  accepted,  and  stated  as  follows :  the  Historical  Pres- 
ent may  be  follow^ed  by  either  the  present  or  the  past 
sequence ;  but,  as  should  be  expected,  the  present  pre- 
dominates in  those  subordinate  clauses  that  are  most 
intimately  connected  with  their  principal  clauses  in  that 
they  expand  the  activity  of  the  principal  verb,  or  express 
ideas  existing  in  the  mind  of  the  subject  of  this  verb,  rather 
than  in  the  mind  of  the  narrator.^ 

That  such  a  principle  adequately  accounts  for  the 
sequence  of  tenses  after  the  Historical  Present  in  early 
Latin,  will  be  seen  from  a  study  of  the  passages.  By  far 
the  greater  number  of  the  subjunctive  subordinate  clauses 
dependent  upon  an  Historical  Present  are  final  or  con- 
secutive or  of  indirect  question ;  that  is,  they  express 
ideas  present  in  the  mind  of  the  subject  of  the  principal 
verb,  or  contain  the  necessary  expansion  of  his  activity. 
Of  these  sixty-five  show  the  present  sequence,  twenty  the 
past  sequence.  The  same  principle  explains  the  present 
sequence  in  the  one  example  of  a  subjunctive  temporal 
clause  introduced  by  friusqtiam^  which  is  in  reality  a  final 
clause.  But  subjunctive  temporal  clauses  introduced  by 
cum^  which  have  reference  to  the  point  of  view  of  the  nar- 
rator and  express  his  knowledge  of  the  temporal  relation 
between  past  events,  contain  only  the  past  sequence.^ 

The  following  tabular  statements  will  give  the  sta- 
tistics of  the  sequence  of  tenses  in  different  kinds  of 
subjunctive  subordinate  clauses  dependent  upon  an  Histor- 
ical Present,  together  w^th  the  relative  position  of  these 
clauses  and  their  principal  clauses : 

*  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  above  principle  closely  resembles  Hug's  "  Grund- 
princip". 

*  It  must  be  noted  that  all  but  one  of  the  examples  of  past  sequence  in  cum 
clauses  are  found  in  Varro,  where  in  most  cases  the  principal  Historical  Present 
is  a  form  of  inquam. 


m 


Mil 
li  ' 


no 


III 


TEMPORAL  SENTENCES. 


pHusquain 
Present  sequence I 

subordinate   clause   pre- 
cedes principal 

subordinate  cla  use  folloivs 
principal 

T 

cum 
Past  sequence 13 

.........    T2.  ....*... 

ui 

Present  sequence 26 

Past  sequence 12 

38 

without  ut 
Present  sequence 2 

7te 

Present  sequence 6 

Past  sequence I 

7 

relative 

Present  sequence 3 

Past  sequence 4 

7 


FINAL   SENTENCES. 

subordinate  clause  pre- 
cedes principal 

2 

I 


subordinate  clause  follo7vs 
principal 

24 

II 


35 


6 
I 


3 
I 


CONSECUTIVE  SENTENCES. 


ut 

Past  sequence I 

ut  qui 
Present  sequence I 

quin 
Present  sequence 3 

relative 
Present  sequence 2 


subordinate  clause   pre- 
cedes principal 


subordinate  clause  follo^vs 

principal 
I 


SENTENCES  of  INDIRECT  QUESTION. 

relative 


Present  sequence 
Past  sequence... 


19 

.2 


21 


subordinate   clause   pre- 
cedes principal 


St 


Present  sequence 2 

ne 
Present  sequence i 


subordinate  clause  follows 
principal 

17 


2 
19 


These  tables  show :  14  temporal  sentences,  of  which  i  has  the  present,  13 
have  the  past  sequence;  54  final  sentences,  of  which  37  have  the  present,  17  the 
past  sequence;  7  consecutive  sentences,  of  which  6  have  the  present,  i  has  the 
past  sequence;  and  24  sentences  of  indirect  question,  of  which  22  have  the 
present,  2  the  past  sequence. 

In  addition  to  the  subordinate  clauses  included  in  the 
above  tables  may  be  noted  clauses  of  indirect  discourse 
(temporal,  final,  conditional)  following  a  verb  of  saying 
in  the  Historical  Present.  Of  these  clauses  some  show 
the  present  and  others  the  past  sequence,  while  all  follow 
their  principal  clauses.  In  a  few  cases,  even  after  the  same 
verb  the  clauses  vary  between  the  present  and  the  past 

sequence. 

The  cause  for  the  variation  of  present  and  past  se- 
tpence,  which  occurs  even  in  the  clauses  that  are  most 
intimately  connected  with  their  principal  clauses,  is  prob- 
ably, despite  of  Hoffmann,  to  be  sought  in  the  dual  nature 
of  the  Historical  Present.  This  tense,  since  it  has  the 
force  of  a  present  tense,  representing  the  past  as  present, 
is  naturally  followed  by  a  present  sequence  of  tenses; 
while,  since  it  has  also  the  force  of  a  past  tense,  narrating 
past  events,  it  may  also  be  followed  by  a  past  sequence 

of  tenses. 

That  in  those  subordinate  clauses  that  are  most 
closely  connected  with  their  principal  clauses  the  present 


112 


sequence  predominates  is  another  proof  that  the  Historical 
Present  serves  to  represent  the  past  as  present,  and  has 
not,  as  Hoffmann  claims  that  it  has,  the  force  of  a  purely 
preterite  tense.  By  denying  this  fact  Hoffmann  is  forced 
to  regard  the  most  natural  present  sequence  after  the 
Historical  Present  as  an  exception  to  the  rule  of  past 
sequence,  and  to  make  a  baseless  distinction  between  two 
phases  of  one  tense. 

It  seems  doubtful  whether  the  choice  of  present  or 
past  sequence  depends  consciously  upon  the  degree  of 
vividness  in  the  representation  of  the  past.  In  a  care- 
fully cultivated  style,  what  Hale  ^  says  of  the  part  played 
by  subordinate  clauses  after  an  Historical  Present  may, 
possibly,  be  true  :  "  It  is  not  history  that  is  given  us  [by 
the  use  of  the  Historical  Present  in  principal  clauses],  it 
is  the  mimic  stage.  Now,  these  stage-presents  are  fol- 
lowed in  a  dependent  clause  (say  a  final  clause)  now  by 
a  primary  tense,  now  by  a  secondary.  What  is  it  that 
tells  us,  as  we  read,  whether  w^e  are  to  keep  up  the  fiction 
of  the  theatre,  and  wait  to  see  the  act  of  the  final  clause, 
say  the  intended  blow  of  a  murderer,  actually  performed 
upon  tlie  stage,  or  are  to  drop  the  illusion,  and  return  to 
the  sober  narrative,  namely,  that  this  was  once  upon  a 
time  a  purpose  ?  It  is  nothing  but  the  verb  of  the  final 
clause  itself.  In  that  verb,  and  in  no  other,  lie  or  do  not 
lie  the  directions.  The  choice  of  the  subordinate  verb  is 
itself  just  as  perfect  and  complete  a  method  of  communi- 
cation between  writer  and  reader  as  is  the  choice,  for  the 
main  verb,  between  the  sober  aorist  and  the  stagy  present." 
But  in  colloquial  speech,  at  least,  it  is  more  probable  that 
the  variation  was  an  unconscious  result  of  the  two  elements 
in  the  Historical  Present. 

^Sequence  of   Tenses  in  Latin  ^   American   Journal  of  Philology  y  VIII, 
(1887)  p.  63. 


The  passages  illustrating  the  sequence  of  tenses  after 
the  Historical  Present  may  be  briefly  classified  and  cited. 
It  will  not  be  necessary  to  subdivide  the  different  kinds  of 
subordinate  clauses  according  to  the  special  relation  that 
they  bear  to  their  principal  clauses.' 

TEMPORAL  SENTENCES. 
I.     Prese7it  Sequence, 
priusquam, 
Amphtiruo  240 : 

Animam  omittunt  prius  quain  loco  demigrent, 

2.     Past  Sequence, 
cum, 
Varro,  de  re  rustica  I,  69,  2 : 

Ctmi  haec  dicer et,  venit  libertus  aeditumi  ad  nos  flens  et  rogat, 

Cf.  ibid,  I,  49,  I  ;  II,  I,  3  ;  III'  5»   ^S. 
Ibid,  1,3: 

Stolo  cum  aspexissct  Scrofam,         .         inquit. 

Cf.  ibid,  I,  49,   I  ;  II,  1,1;   1,3;   I'll'    5'   I  ;    III'   2, 

2  ;  2,  10. 

Ennius,  Annales  295-97  : 

rerumque  suarum 
Inpartit  cumulum,  magnam  cum  lassu'  diei 
Partem  fuisset. 

FINAL   SENTENCES. 

I.     Present  Sequence, 
a,     ut. 
Miles  Gloria sus  116: 

Insccndo,  ut  earn  rem  Naupactum  ad  erum  nuntiem. 

Mercator  1 04 : 

Postridie  hospitem  adeo^  oro  ut  uendat  mihi. 
*  For  Hoffmann's  elaborate  subdivisions  see  op,  cii.,  pp.  44-97- 


114 
Andria  355  : 

Continue  ad  te  properans  percurro  ad  forum,  tit  dicam  haec  tibi. 
Phormio  11 2-1 3  : 

obsecratf 
Vt  sibi  eius  facial  copiam. 

C.  Amp/ntruo  205,  1069,  ^^93  5  Caftmt  ^11-12 -,  C a  sin  a 
42,  44,  922;^  Curculio  330,  355;  Mostellaria  1049; 
Pseiidolus  1273,  1276;  Rudejis  53-4;  Andria  592;  Eti- 
nuchus  578-79,  582,  618,  627  ;  Hccyra  116;  Varro,  de  re 
rustica  I,  69,  2. 

Naevius,  Belhim  Puniciim  56-8  : 

Id  quoque  paciscunt^  moenia  ut  sint  quae  concilient 
Lutatium.     captives  plurimos  idem, 
Sicilienses  paciscit  obsides  ut  reddant. 

Coelius  Antipater  30 : 

Imperator   condamat  de  medio,  ut  uelites  in  sinistro  cornu  remoueantur, 
Gallis  non  dubitatim  inniittantur , 

h,     without  ut, 
A^nfhitruo  257  : 

Velatis  manibus  or  ant  ^  ignoscainus  peccatum  suom. 

Eunuchiis  583  : 

Adhortor  properent. 

c,     ne, 
Curctclio  361  : 

Deduco  pedes  de  lecto  clam,  ne  miles  sentiat. 
Casina  321-22  : 

orat  obsecraty 
Ne  Casinam  uxorem  ducam, 

Eu7iuchus  138: 

•  •  fif^S^t  causas  ne  det  sedulo. 

Ibid,  578: 

Edicit  ne  uir  quisquam  ad  earn  adeat^  et  mihi  ne  abscedam  imperat. 
*  According  to  Leo. 


IIS 

Cf .  Rudens  605  ;    Casina  909,  where  the  verb  upon  which 
the  subjunctive  depends  is  introduced  by  dtmi, 

d,     relative, 
Truculentus  401-4 : 

iubet 


•  • 


praemandare  et  quaerere 
Puerum  aut  puellam  qui  supponatur  mihi. 

Varro,  de  re  rustica  II,  8,  i  : 

Venit  a  Menate  libertus,  qui  dicat  liba  absoluta  esse. 

Coelius  Antipater  12  : ' 

Sempronius  Lilybaeo  celocem  in  Africam  mittit,  uisere  locum,  ubi  exercitum 
exponat. 

2.     Past  Sequence. 

a,     ut, 

Bacchides  301-2  : 

yJuferimus  aurum  omne  illim  illis  praesentibus 
Palam  atque  aperte,  ttt  illi  id  factum  sciscerent. 

Rudens  601-2  : 

Videtur  *  ad  me  simia  adgredirier, 
Rogare  scalas  ut  darem  utendas  sibi. 

Phormio  S92-93  : 

uenio  ad  hominem,  ut  dicer  em 
Argentum  opus  esse. 

Heauton  Timorumenos  6$ii 

dico  ut  una  cum  puella  exponet  et. 

Cf .  Mercator  90-1  ;  Heauton  Timorumenos  304-5  ;    Sex- 
tus  TurpiUus  81. 
Pacuvius  331-32: 

mihi  classem  imperat 
Thessalum  nostramque  in  altum  ut  properiter  deducerem. 

'  Hoffmann,  op,  cit.,  p.  94,  classes  this  passage  under  those  in  which  an 
indirect  question  stands  in  final  relation  to  the  principal  clause. 
*  MSS  give  uidebatur. 


ii6 

Cf.  Ennius,  Tragoediae  i8o;  Inccrt,  (Ennius  ?),  Inccri, 
6-7.^ 

Ennius,  Annalcs  304-5  : 

Ingenium,  cui  nulla  malum  sententia  suadef 
Vt  facer et  f acinus  levis  aut  malu', 

Cf.  ibid,  19-20. 

h,     ne. 
Casina  893  : 

Forem  obdOf  ne  senex  rae  opprimeret, 

c,     relative, 
Etmuchiis  581  : 

•  .  paucae,  quae  circum  illam  essent^  nianent. 

Cf.  Caecilius  Statius  275,  where  the  verb  upon  which  the 
subjunctive  depends  is  introduced  by  ^««/;  Ennius,  Tra- 
goediae 326. 

Ennius,  Annales  294-300 : 

Haece  locutu'  vocat  .  , 


Cut  res  audacter  magnas  parvasque  iocumque 
Eloquerettir , 

CONSECUTIVE   SENTENCES. 

I .     Present   Sequence, 
a,     ut  qui, 
Andria  148-9 : 

Ita  turn  discedo  ab  illo,  ut  qui  se  filiani 
Neget  daturum. 

h,     quin, 
Amphitruo  238-39 : 

Sed  fugam  in  se  tamen  nemo  conuortitur 
Nee  recedit  loco  quin  statim  rem  gerai.^ 

*  See  Chapter  III,  p.  70,  note. 

*  Hoffmann,  op.  cit.^  p.  48,  claims  to  improve  the  logic  of  this  passage  by 
reading,   Nee  recedit  loco,  quin  statim  rem  gerit. 


117 


Hecyra  126-28 : 

postquam  uidet 
Paratas  nee  moram  ullam  quin  ducat  dari^ 
Ibi  .  aegre  tulit. 

Q^  Claudius  Quadrigarius  70  : 

Romam  uenit^  uix  superat^  quin  triumphus  decernatur. 

c,     relative, 
Poenulus  1284-85  : 

Vbi  nee  leno  neque  illae  redeunt,  nee  quod  edim  quicquam  datur : 
Pro  maiori  parte  prandi  pignus  cepi,  abii  for  as. 

Cf.  Aiilularia  377. 


2.     Past  Sequence, 


ut. 


Heauton  Timorumenos  306-7  : 

Continuo  et  lacrumis  opplct  os  totum  sibi, 
Vt  facile  scires  desiderio  id  fieri. 


SENTENCES  of   INDIRECT  QUESTION. 

I.     Present   Sequence, 
a,     relative, 
Truculentus  650-51: 

Quae r it  patrem :  dico  esse  in  urbe,  intcrrogo 
Quid  eum  uelit. 

Curculio  362  : 

Kog.jnt  me  serui  quo  earn. 

Rudens  64 : 

Adulescentuli  alii  narrant  ut  res  gesta  sit. 

Andria  124 : 

Quae  sit  rogo  .  . 

Hecyra  831  : 

Rogat  unde  sit 

Cf.  Amphitruo  1069;  Asinaria  343-44  5  Capiui  $10-11  ; 
Cistellaria  164  ;  Curculio  339,  340-41 '  59^  5  Sticlms  366, 
where   the    verb  upon  which  the  subjunctive  depends  is 


ii8 

introduced  by  du7n;  Adclfhi  619;  Andria  358;    Eunu- 
chits  341  ;  Phormw  93,  ^62,-6^^  Coelius  Antipater  8. 

b,     si. 

Cistellaria  183-86 : 

lubet  ilium  eundem  persequi^  si  qua  queat 
Reperire  quae  sustulerit.  ei  rei  nunc  suam 
Operam  usque  assiduo  seruos  dat^  si  possiet 
Meretricem  illam  inuenire. 


119 


Etmuchus  594 : 

c,     ne. 
Ibid,  602-3  : 


Satin  explorata  sint. 

Cf.  Ad  dp  hi  61(^-20, 


Sfo  expectans,  si  quid  mi  ifjiperent. 


simul  alia  circumspectOy 


relative, 
Bacc hides  290-91  : 


2.     Past  Sequence, 


quoniam  sentio 
Quae  res  gereretur^^  nauem  extemplo  statuimus. 

Naevius,  Bellum  Punicuni  21-2: 

blande  et  docte  percontat^ 
Aenea  quo  pacta  Troiam  urbem  liquisset,^ 

INDIRECT  DISCOURSE. 

I.     Present   Sequence, 
Mercator  83-4 : 

Dico  esse  iturum  me  mercatum,  si  uelit^ 
Amorem  missum  facere  me,  dum  illi  obsequar, 

'  Hoffmann,  op.  cit.y  p.  87,  note  74,  explains  the  Imperfect  in  this  passage 
as  due  to  the  implied  potential  idea:  "potentialem  ea  res  gereretur^  sc,  ut 
aurum  nobis  absiraheretur.** 

^  Vahlen  reads  liquerit  after  some  of  the  MSS.      Hoffmann  quotes  Vahlen. 


Eunuchtis  139-42 : 


Aity  si  fidem  habeat  se  iri  praepositum  tibi 
Apud  me,  ac  non  id  metuat^  ne^  ubi  acceperim, 
Sese  relinquarny  uelle  se  illam  mihi  dare. 

Cf .  Asinaria  347-48  ;   Casina  53-4,  56-7  ;  Mercator  243- 
44;  Poenulus  6s6'$S\  Phormio  1 14-16. 

2.     Past  Sequence, 
A mfh itruo  214-15: 

Respondent  bello  se  et  suos  tutari  posse,  proinde  uti 
Properiter  de  suis  finibus  exercitus  deducerent, 

Varro,  de  re  rustica  II,  8,  i : 

Venit  a  Menate  libertus  qui  dicat  liba  absoluta  esse  et  rem  divinam  paratam; 
si  vellenty  venirent  illuc  et  ipsi  pro  se  sacrificarentur, 

Cf.  ibid,  I,  69,  2-3. 

3.     Present  and  Past  Sequence, 
Amfhitruo  205-10 : 

Telebois  iubet  sententiam  ut  dicant  suam : 
Si  sine  ui  et  sine  bello  uelint  rapta  et  raptores  tradere, 
Si  quae  asportassent  redderent^  se  exercitum  extemplo  domum 
Reducturum,  abituros  agro  Argiuos,  pacem  atque  otium 
Dare  illis :  sin  aliter  sient  animati  neque  dent  quae  petat, 
Sese  igitur  summa  ui  uirisque  eorum  oppidum  oppugnassere. 

Hecyra  145-47- 

Narrat^&y  ut  uirgo  ab  se  Integra  etiam  tum  siet^ 
Seque  ante  quam  eam  uxorem  duxisset  domum, 
Sperasse  eas  tolerare  posse  nuptias. 

Cf.  Aniphitruo  225-26. 


Any  analysis  of  syntactical  usages  is  subject  to  error, 
and  opinions  may  easily  differ  in  regard  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  individual  passages ;  but  it  is  hoped  that  this 
study  of  the  Historical  Present  in  early  Latin  has  made 


120 


clear  certain  general  facts  which  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows  : 

The  Historical  Present  is  characteristic  of  the  collo- 
quial language,  and  is  used  to  represent  past  events  as  if 
they  were  present.  It  is  imperfect  in  nature  and  describes 
rather  than  narrates  these  events,  as  is  seen  from  the  fact 
that  it  belongs  chiefly  to  verbs  of  descriptive  as  opposed 
to  verbs  of  narrative  character.  Its  use  may  be  extended 
to  verbs  of  aoristic  conceptions  when  the  activities  denoted 
by  them  form  parts  of  a  course  of  events  which  is  de- 
scribed as  in  progress  in  the  sphere  of  time  that  the 
speaker  is  regarding  as  present.  Its  representation  of  the 
past  involves  a  certain  liveliness  of  narration,  but  it  has 
not  yet  become  the  rhetorical  device  and  means  for  pro- 
ducing stylistic  effects  that  it  became  in  literature.  In 
historical  literature,  at  least,  it  also  seems  to  have  de- 
veloped an  aoristic  function  hardly  distinguishable  from 
that  of  the  Historical  Perfect.  Indications  of  this  function, 
which  probably  sprang  from  the  frequent  colloquial  use 
of  the  tense  to  describe  aoristic  activities  of  the  past,  are 
found  in  early  inscriptions. 

The  variation  of  the  Historical  Present  with  other 
tenses  in  the  colloquial  language  is  governed  by  certain 
principles,  which  are  based  upon  the  kinds  of  activity  de- 
noted bv  the  verbs,  and  the  functions  of  the  different 
tenses.  In  a  few  cases  no  especial  reason  can  be  assigned 
for  its  variation  with  the  Historical  Perfect,  which  may 
indicate  the  beginning  of  the  aoristic  function  that  it 
developed  later.  But  in  the  majority  of  cases  this  varia- 
tion as  well  as  that  with  the  other  past  tenses  is  far  from 
being  arbitrary. 


ERRATA. 

P.  28,  note  I,  for  "A,  5"  read  "A,  6". 
P.  80,  line  15,  for  "three"  read  "two". 


LIFE. 


I  was  born  in  Ellsworth,  Maine,  January  i,  187 1, 
and  received  my  early  education  in  the  public  schools  of 
that  city  and  a  private  school  in  Dresden.  In  June,  1888, 
I  was  graduated  from  the  Ellsworth  High  School.  In 
September  of  the  same  year  I  entered  Bryn  Mawr  Col- 
lege, where  I  specialized  in  Latin  and  Greek.  I  received 
the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  June,  1892,  and  was  awarded  the 
Bryn  Mawr  European  Fellowship.  During  the  year 
1892-93  I  studied  as  a  graduate  student  at  Bryn  Mawr 
College  in  the  departments  of  Latin  and  Greek.  During 
the  year  1893-94  I  attended  the  University  of  Leipsic, 
and  heard  lectures  on  Latin,  Greek  and  Sanscrit  by  Pro- 
fessors Brugmann,  Ribbeck,  Gardthausen,  Arndt,  Lipsius 
and  Windisch,  to  all  of  whom,  and  especially  to  Profes- 
sors Brugmann  and  Windisch,  I  wish  to  express  my 
thanks.  During  the  second  semester  of  the  year  1894-95 
and  during  the  year  1895-96  I  continued  my  graduate 
work  in  Latin  and  Greek  at  Bryn  Mawr  College.  In 
May,  1896,  I  passed  my  examinations  for  the  degree  of 
Ph.  D.,  in  Latin  as  my  principal,  and  in  Greek  as  my 
subordinate  subject. 

My  graduate  w^ork  has  been  pursued  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Professors  Gonzalez  Lodge  and  Herbert  Weir 
Smyth,  to  whom  my  especial  thanks  are  due  for  their 
continued  kindness  and  assistance. 


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